Prime Minister Tony Abbott has declared the repeal of the carbon tax as his biggest contribution for women in 2014.

During a Monday morning interview on the Today Show to promote his cabinet reshuffle, Mr Abbott was asked by host Lisa Wilkinson to nominate his top achievement in his capacity as Minister for Women.

"Well, you know, it is very important to do the right thing by families and households," Mr Abbott replied. "As many of us know, women are particularly focused on the household budget and the repeal of the carbon tax means a $550 a year benefit for the average family."

Mr Abbott also spruiked his "fair dinkum" paid parental leave scheme, which he promised would be introduced to the Parliament in 2015. However, doubts remain about whether the Prime Minister's pet project will pass the Senate, or even receive the support of a hostile Liberal party room.

Mr Abbott also said he was proud to elevate a number of women in Sunday's reshuffle. NSW MP Sussan Ley will now be the second woman in his cabinet, joining Foreign Affairs Minister Julie Bishop, after taking charge of the health and sport portfolios. Victorian MP Kelly O'Dwyer was appointed Parliamentary Secretary to the Treasurer, and Queensland MP Karen Andrews was made Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Industry and Science.

In a later interview on Sunrise, Mr Abbott was forced to defend the level of female representation in government. Host Natalie Barr asked the Prime Minister: "With 30 per cent of women in your government aren't you a little bit embarrassed that you only have two women on your frontbench?"

"We have actually seven women on the frontbench," Mr Abbott said. "We have got two cabinet ministers, two outer ministry ministers and three parliamentary secretaries so look, there are women in the corridors of power. This will become more and more the case. The challenge for all of us, Nat, is to get more women into public life, more women into the Parliament [and] once we have got more women in the Parliament, we will have more women in the ministry and more women in the cabinet."

There was speculation Mr Abbott might have used the reshuffle to hand his responsibilities as Minister for Women to a female minister, however that did not happen.