PM an early feminist, says Lucy

Prime Minster Malcolm Turnbull was one of the early feminists, according to his wife Lucy.

The former Sydney Lord Mayor told a women's business breakfast that the best way to achieve gender equality was to marry and raise feminists.

"One of the most important things we can do is raise our sons as feminists," she said in Sydney on Thursday.

"I am really super lucky because Malcolm was one of the early feminists but it had nothing to do with me."

Ms Turnbull instead credited the PM's mother for instilling him with feminist values from an early age, and the PM's wife made an impassioned plea for Australians to raise their sons the same.

She said men who encouraged equality at home made it easier for the women in their lives to achieve equality at work.

"Make sure that you partner yourself with a fellow feminist," she told the Transport and Tourism Forum Women's Business Circle.