Oh I don't mean their votes should count double or anything, just that if a party was developing a policy about maternity leave, say, they'd make sure to get a lot of women involved in writing it. Same way that if they're developing science policy they should talk to scientists and not just rely on the fact that some politicians happen to have science degrees.

But this:
I guess I'm saying that if women believe that their gender-related issues need to be represented by female parliamentarians, then they should probably elect some.

really misses the point of why women (or any other under-represented group) are proportionally under-represented in the corridors of power.