The move to dump the Liberals' first female leader is being widely criticised, with women voters expected to be driven further away from the party.
Angus Taylor emphatically won a leadership bid against Sussan Ley on Friday morning, snaring the position of federal opposition leader by 34 votes to 17.
Ms Ley announced she would resign from politics shortly after being deposed, stating “it is important that the new leader gets clear air, something that is not always afforded to leaders”.
Liberal MP Melissa Price admitted taking down the party’s first female leader was “a bad look”.
“We’ve got a bit of repairing to do ... but I’m still here and I look forward to doing that,” she told AAP.
Male colleague Dan Tehan pointed to when Labor replaced Julia Gillard in 2013, saying “these things just happen in politics”.
Asked what impact toppling Ms Ley would have, Mr Taylor said his focus was bringing back everyone who had been disappointed with the party.
“To those who we wanted to have vote for us at the last election but didn’t, male or female, it doesn’t matter,” he told reporters in Canberra.
“We have lost voters across the board, across all age groups.”
The Women's Electoral Lobby said the party’s “reliance on individual ‘merit’ as the sole criterion for leadership has failed Liberal women”.
“It’s time the ‘boys’ own party within the Liberal Party came to an end,” national convenor Kay Anastassiadis said.
Chief Executive Women said the party’s declining vote had not occurred in a vacuum, noting it had consistently opposed policies such as expanding childcare and paid parental leave.
“Ms Ley’s ouster, less than a year after her historic appointment as the first female leader of the Liberal Party, and the manner in which it occurred, also sends a clear signal to women," the group's head Lisa Annese said.
Blair Williams, lecturer in politics at UNSW Canberra, said many female voters were already disenfranchised by the Liberals before the spill as it had been inching further to the right.
She said the party had not been a "frontrunner" for women since the 20th century, when its policies focused on equal opportunities.
"The first childcare policy was legislated by the Liberal Party in 1972," Dr Williams told AAP.
"Now this knee-jerk movement to the right is very much putting women off because of fears they have regarding reproductive rights, around working from home, which we saw in the last election under Peter Dutton."
Jane Hume was elected deputy leader, defeating Ted O’Brien 30 votes to 21.
Dr Williams said the result reflected a society more comfortable with women in deputy roles rather than top positions.
