In the 42 years since independence, only seven women have been elected to Papua New Guinea's parliament.
As polls open on Saturday for two weeks of voting, Australia is hoping its efforts to train 127 potential female political candidates increases from three the number of women MPs now in the 111-member legislature.
Of the 3324 candidates contesting the election only 165 are female.
PNG and other Pacific Islands have some of the worst rates of gender violence in the world.
Human Rights Watch estimates 70 per cent of PNG women are raped during their lifetime.
Australia is also sending a delegation of federal politicians - Claire Moore (Labor), Linda Reynolds and Andrew Laming (Liberal) and Cathy McGowan (independent) - to monitor voting.
Officials from the Australian Electoral Commission will also give support, while the defence force is providing helicopters and planes to help transport election materials to regional centres.
It's understood the PNG government requested less Australian assistance for this election than the 2012 poll.
Foreign Minister Julie Bishop on Thursday told parliament PNG was a vibrant democracy.
