Honour a Woman

Update: Thanks so much for your support of our four-year project, the Honour a Woman movement. We’re hopeful that, through this advocacy, gender inequality in the Order of Australia is now being addressed by the Governor General working with Federal and State governments. We will continue to be gender equality advocates in the years ahead, seeking to elevate women’s voices, ensuring that strides made in the past four years are not lost. We will post any updates on our Facebook page, the news section of our website and in our own Twitter feeds. We invite you to follow us there. Elizabeth Hartnell-Young @hartnellyoung Carol Kiernan @CarolKiernan6 Ruth McGowan OAM @hula_grl Co-founders, Honour a Woman

Final Report Card; a summary of our 4-year achievements

A summary of our achievements over the four years of the project 201702020

The Honour a Woman movement began in 2017 after 43 years of men consistently receiving over 70% of all the Orders of Australia. With the support of thousands of supporters around Australia, we are working to achieve our goal of 50/50 by 2020.

Exceptional Australian women need to be recognised on the public record through the highest level of public recognition in our country; the Australian honours.


Why, after four decades, are women still underrepresented in the Australian honours? 

We believe historical structural disadvantages in the nomination and selection processes prevent women being equally recognised through the Australian honours. It’s time these barriers were removed.

It’s time for equality in the Australian honours.

Honour a Woman co-founders Carol Kiernan, Elizabeth Hartnell-Young and Ruth McGowan OAM

Our approach is two-pronged; first to support more people to nominate women. Secondly we work to highlight and address the structural barriers within the management of the Australian honours nomination system that prevent the equal recognition of women. It is not enough to just blame Australian citizens for ‘not nominating enough women’. We believe that the system needs to change to address the gender and cultural barriers to delivering equality in the honours.

Enough is enough. Will you help us bring equality to the Order of Australia?

You can nominate a woman here, through the Governor General’s official website

About the Order of Australia

Appointments to the Order of Australia are made twice a year to recognise outstanding achievement and service.

Recipients come from all walks of life and are usually nominated directly from the community.

There are four levels in the Order of Australia:

  • Companion of the Order (AC)
  • Officer of the Order (AO)
  • Member of the Order (AM), and
  • Medal of the Order (OAM).

The awards are generally announced on Australia Day (26 January) and the Queen’s Birthday public holiday (June).

For more information about the Order of Australia see the Governor General’s website  and the  Order of Australia Association.

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Honour a Woman acknowledges the traditional owners of this land on which we stand and pays our respects to the elders, past, present and future, for they hold the memories, the traditions and the culture of all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. 

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