By Jo Coburn and Carolyn Quinn BBC political correspondents

The Conservatives have brought in a psychologist to sort out its problems recruiting women candidates.

Tory chairman Theresa May said Professor Jo Sylvester had devised a list of skills needed to become an MP in the hope of boosting the number of female parliamentary hopefuls.

Getting more women and ethnic minorities involved is absolutely crucial Theresa May

Mrs May conceded that her party had become complacent after 18 years in power and now understood the need to be more representative.

In the past year Professor Sylvester has worked on the party's assessment boards which decide whether people would make suitable candidates.

She has trained the people who are making the assessments to make sure they ask the right questions of potential candidates.

Existing MPs have also had their say in the process, as have other Tory party members, resulting in a list of the key skills for members.

As good as men

They include public speaking, social skills, the ability to listen and a talent for campaigning.

Mrs May said that it was clear from the consultation that women are as good as men when it comes to ability.

And yet the party still was failing to turn that into potential candidates.

Only 18-20% of the current candidates list are women and of the 60 seats to have chosen their candidates for the next election, only nine have chosen women.

Mrs May has told the BBC in the past: "It is important for us as a party to have a better representation of people standing in our name to get into Parliament.

"Getting more women and ethnic minorities involved is absolutely crucial but it's about getting a more diverse range of candidates in general."

All-women shortlists

There was a call at the Tory party conference in Bournemouth in October for 50% women shortlists for candidates.

And Mrs May has refused to rule out any quota system but any moves towards "positive discrimination" are likely to be resisted by the traditionalist arm of the party.

The problem of how to attract women to politics is not restricted to the Conservative Party.

The Liberal Democrats, who have just five women MPs out of 52, appeared split on how to change the situation at their conference earlier this year.

It had been less of a problem for them, with half their candidates for the 1999 European elections, for example, women.

The party has rejected all-women shortlists and has resolved to try to encourage more women to stand.

In July, the Labour Party decided to adopt women-only shortlists in half of their winnable seats for the next general election.

There are currently 118 women MPs in the House of Commons of a total of 659 members.