ACT Chief Minister Katy Gallagher has called for the community to welcome women into politics, describing results of a new survey into female attitudes to entering public life as "depressing".
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A survey released on Monday showed just 1per cent of women and girls in Australia aspired to a career in politics.
In comparison at least 75 per cent had received a sexist comment while 50 per cent said sexism had affected their career path.
Ms Gallagher said it was disheartening to see such a low number of female Australians with dreams of a future in politics.
"While the results are unfortunately not surprising in a general sense, the extent to which respondents identify sexism as a factor in a political career really is depressing," she said.
"These results are yet another stark reminder that we all have to do more to encourage young girls and women to open their eyes to the great opportunities that a life in politics can present."
in 2013, the Chief Minister wrote an article in The Canberra Times where she called for a higher representation of female politicians on the benches of parliaments across Australia.
On Wednesday, Ms Gallagher said politicians must be representative of the communities they are elected to serve and there was no reason women shouldn't make up 50 per cent of their respective parliaments.
"Women politicians do make a difference and they can change people's perceptions of politics – they also change the structural discrimination of old-style political systems and parliamentary conventions," she said.
"If we are to continue to enhance Australian parliamentary systems, women must be part of that."
She said the community should embrace women in public roles and ensure women were given a level playing field in political life.
The survey and Ms Gallagher's comments come a week after the release of former prime minister Julia Gillard's memoirs in which she said she was the victim of sexism in her time in the top job.
