New Brunswick's Liberal Party has missed an opportunity to more than double the number of female MLAs it has in the legislature.

Two of the three candidates the party will field in upcoming byelections will be men, despite Liberal Leader Susan Holt's own commitment to try to boost the number of women running.

If the party wins all three byelections, it will be gaining just one female MLA, Holt herself, to add to the two women it already has in the legislature.

"Missed opportunity isn't the word I'd use, but in my heart I want more women on my team," said Holt, who estimated she or other party members approached about 20 women about running.

"Every opportunity to gain one is an opportunity. So would I have liked some of those women to say yes? Absolutely."

Norma Dubé, the director of Women for 50%, a group trying to encourage more women to run in elections, said it's "clearly disappointing" the Liberals won't have three women running in three winnable ridings.

"I just can't believe that there are not a sufficient number of competent, strong, able women to bring their voices forward in that context," she said.

But Dubé said she also recognizes some women see barriers to participating, whether that's a lack of support with family responsibilities or the confrontational tone of politics.

"I can understand why women might hesitate to put up their hands," she said.

There's no date for the three byelections. Premier Blaine Higgs has suggested he'll call them around when the legislature reconvenes March 21 for a date later in the spring.

A byelection sweep by three female Liberal candidates would have boosted the number of women in the party's legislature caucus to five.

As it stands now, it has the lowest percentage of women of any party in the chamber.

Nine out of 30 MLAs in the Progressive Conservative caucus are women, and one of three Greens is a woman.

Holt, who became Liberal leader last year, will be the party candidate in Bathurst-Est-Nepisiguit-Saint-Isidore.

In Dieppe, Liberals have nominated former Medavie Health Services New Brunswick CEO Richard Losier.

And in Restigouche-Chaleur, former educator Gérald Arseneault and political staffer Marco LeBlanc were the only two candidates to enter the race by Friday's deadline. Party members will choose between them on March 26.

"They looked for women who would run in this riding but they were not successful," said LeBlanc.

It's challenging to recruit women to run for "a place they don't see themselves," Holt said in an interview at the legislature.

"We have to ask, and ask, and ask, and we have to do some things to make this a more friendly space for people who would like to participate but maybe need more flexibility."

Last fall the Liberals introduced a motion calling for a legislative committee to examine how to make the legislature more "family-friendly" as a way to persuade more women to run.

But the party has yet to call the motion up for debate.

In the last session, virtual sittings during peaks of the COVID-19 pandemic made it easier for women MLAs with young children to participate from home.

But the special rule that allowed it, requiring consultations with the chief medical officer of health and the approval of all party leaders, was not renewed for the current session.

During her run for the party leadership last year, Holt spoke frequently of trying to entice more women to get into elected politics.

PC MLA Andrea Anderson-Mason said that may be more difficult than Holt assumed.

"It's definitely aspirational, but you see that often with new, inexperienced politicians," she said. "They do have strong aspirations but getting the reality of it is sometimes more challenging."

Anderson-Mason said when she would meet women at their doorsteps while campaigning,  "it was not uncommon for them to say, 'I'm not really into politics, maybe you'd like to talk to my husband.' So it goes to a much deeper issue."

Holt, the first woman elected to lead the provincial Liberals, said she's also trying to recruit women for the next provincial election next year, and the longer lead time is making it easier for some women to consider it.

She said she has identified 55 women interested in running compared to 79 men, a better ratio than the byelection slate.

Holt said she tells women that politics can be "an amazing vehicle" for creating change, and that it's not as negative an experience as some might think.

"It hasn't been what they might have expected since I got this role. I haven't faced the kind of — what would you call it? — old-boys-club resistance or misogyny to the extent I might have expected. It doesn't mean it's not there. It just hasn't been as big as you might imagine."