Former Prime Minister Julia Gillard has urged the Labor Party to retain its 50 per cent female target for parliamentary candidates.

Despite surpassing the target at the federal level, Gillard says women still face significant challenges, particularly the “toxic sewer” of social media, that could threaten their equal representation. 

In an interview marking the 30th anniversary of Labor’s affirmative action rule, Gillard said that having women make up 52.4 per cent of Labor’s caucus should help future female leaders.

“I think some things are going to be easier, and some things are going to be a bit harder,” she said, noting that media awareness of how women are treated has improved. 

Gillard said the Coalition’s low female representation - just 29.4 per cent of its federal parliamentarians - means the party should “look at the scoreboard” and take up a quota because “it works”.

She praised Labor’s gender target as a “solid foundation” for further progress and called for the rule’s adoption across federal parliament. 

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