David Cameron has pledged he wants to do his "bit" to get more women in parliament - and reaffirmed his commitment for them to make up a third of his ministers.
In an interview with the House magazine, the prime minister said he was "very committed" to getting more females to stand and get elected as MPs.
"I’m very committed to the progress of getting more women standing for parliament, getting more women elected to Parliament and when in parliament, making sure that we have more women on the front bench.
"Obviously we are in a coalition and we have two parties and that changes the arithmetic but I certainly want to do my bit."
The prime minister suggested his party should make an attempt to secure more female candidates in new seats, but did not outline any specific commitments such as to all-women short lists.
"We’ve obviously got a Boundary Review, which is a very big issue so I don’t want to pile another new set of issues on top of that, but I think where there are opportunities, new seats, entirely new seats where we hope to take on Labour, or perhaps some seats where people are retiring, we’ve got to ask ourselves, the party needs to ask itself the question, ‘what are we going to do to help keep pushing forward the agenda of getting more good women to stand for parliament and to get into parliament. That’s a conversation we are starting now."
Cameron has previously supported all-women shortlists, saying in 2009: "There are many very, very good women on our priority list of candidates who haven't yet been selected and I want to give them the chance to serve in parliament."
The prime minister's comments came as MPs debated representation in parliament. Speaking to politics.co.uk before the debate, Labour MP Dame Anne Begg backed all women shortlists - and said the current system risking putting off working class candidates.
"There's a real worry with the expenses scandal that only people with some private income can afford to become an MP."