The most senior Liberal female politician acknowledges her party has a woman problem.
But Julie Bishop says there are ways other than electing women to ensure their voices are heard.
Despite Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull declaring gender diversity was the key to winning elections, the coalition now has just 13 of its 76 seats won so far held by women.
"It is an issue for us, but we will continue to ensure that women are not only preselected but elected and promoted," the deputy Liberal leader Ms Bishop told ABC TV on Sunday.
She was excited by the number of women preselected for the federal election and was pleased to campaign with them, partly with the aim of getting more women into parliament.
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But Ms Bishop said you couldn't put a quota on who voters would choose.
"There are a number of issues we can look at such as plebiscites to ensure that we get a broad cross-section of views and women will rise to the top that way," she said.
"The more women who take leadership roles in the Liberal Party that will mean more women will be inspired to make politics a career.'
She noted the coalition's team overall came from a diverse range of backgrounds - with new MPs including candidates who were openly gay, and single mothers.
Labor has a quota system to ensure female candidates are chosen to run in winnable seats and aims to have women making up half its MPs by 2025.
