Former Prime Minister John Howard says the Liberal Party is unlikely to reach equal gender representation in Parliament, because women are busy caring.

Just 18 of the 84 Liberal MPs in Parliament are female, but the party has a goal for 50 per cent of its MPs to be women by 2025.

Speaking at the National Press Club this week, Mr Howard responded to a question about the Liberal Party going backwards in getting women into federal Parliament.

“Look, I don't believe in quotas, as you know, and I mean, you can talk about targets and aspirations and goals,” he said.

“I would like to see a natural process whereby there are more women.”

He said a 50/50 balance was almost impossible.

“It is a fact of society that women play a significantly greater part of fulfilling the caring role in our communities, which inevitably places some limits on their capacity,” he said.

“Some people may say; ‘What a terrible thing to say’, and it's not a terrible thing to say, it just happens to be the truth and occasionally, you've just got to recognise that and say it.

“The mainstream should not be too timid to say things occasionally.”