The Liberal candidate for a once-safe Coalition seat says women are not getting pay rises because they are not interested in "money matters and other business-related 'stuff'".
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Sachin Joshi, the candidate for the NSW seat of Paterson, said men were more likely to actively seek business skills and responsibilities and boost their pay packets.
A YouGov Galaxy poll of 1065 voters, commissioned by independent lobby group WomenVote and released on Wednesday, showed 71 per cent of those surveyed believe the government should be doing more to address the gender pay gap.
"The main reason for the gender gap lies in the 'active interest (or lack of it) towards business skills/responsibilities'," the Maitland-based GP business coach wrote on LinkedIn in October 2018.
"This warrants further research into why women (doctors) are less active/interested in pursuing business skills?
"In my interaction with many female doctors, I have observed that they put lesser priority on understanding money matters, dealing with staff issues, managing commercial aspects and other business-related 'stuff'."
Asked if he stood by the comments, Mr Joshi said he had worked with the medical community for years and advocated strongly in support of equal pay for women in medicine.
"Women have been shown to outstrip their male counterparts in every area including clinical care, communication and collaboration, while taking equal or bigger share of family responsibilities at the same time," he said.
Despite being held by the Liberals for 15 years until 2016, Mr Joshi is facing an uphill task to unseat incumbent Paterson Labor MP Meryl Swanson, who sits on a margin of 10 per cent.
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The prospect of winning over female voters has been made more challenging by perceptions the Liberal Party has a problem with women. Its female representation could fall to 23 per cent following the resignations of high-profile ministers Kelly O'Dwyer and Julie Bishop at this election.
The YouGov Galaxy poll showed 56 per cent of voters surveyed believe there should be gender parity in Parliament, while 64 per cent believed childcare should be a tax-deductible expense.
In a sign that the Coalition's internal debate about women's economic independence is likely to continue, the Liberal candidate for the must-win seat of Lindsay, Melissa McIntosh, has a history urging the government to do more to lift women's economic security.
In 2014 she launched an impassioned defence of the Abbott-era paid parental leave scheme, a policy that was later scrapped because it was seen as too generous and expensive.
"Ultimately, the private sector is leading the way in increasing and sustaining women's participation in the workplace," she wrote in an opinion piece for The Sydney Morning Herald andThe Age.
"Meanwhile, government looks prehistoric."
In November, Ms O'Dwyer announced a $109 million boost to paid parental leave, allowing partners to take an extra two weeks' leave, while giving primary carers the ability to take 18 weeks' leave in different periods.
Mr Abbott originally proposed funding six months of parental leave paid at the person's normal salary up to a cap of $150,000 in annual earnings, costing $5.5 billion a year.
Asked if she would like to see Mr Abbott's paid personal leave return as Coalition policy, Ms McIntosh said she had been a strong advocate for women and families throughout her professional life.
"If elected to Parliament I will be a strong voice for women and family and community services," she said.
"Women make bold and brilliant members of the workforce and supporting them with accessible childcare is a must."
She backed the Morrison government's $8.3 billion childcare subsidy over Labor's policy, which will see an extra $4 billion going to families, giving most an extra $1200 a year per child.
The Age
