Queen’s birthday honours: pendulum swinging to women

Governor-General David Hurley says the honours gender balance can reach parity ‘in the next few years’.

 

Governor-General David Hurley says the honours gender balance can reach parity “in the next few years”, as the proportion of women reached its highest level in this year’s Queens Birthday list.

Of 710 awards in the General Division, 290 went to women, or 41 per cent.

It marks the first time both the Australia Day and the Queens Birthday honours surpassed figures of female representation in the 30s, an encouraging sign for those promoting consistently more nominations of women by the public.

Of the three Australians to be awarded top honour, Companion of the Order of Australia, businesswomen and philanthropists Bel­inda Hutchinson and Naomi Milgrom joined former prime minister Tony Abbott.

“The Order of Australia ­belongs to all Australians — it is bottom-up and driven by nominations,” General Hurley said.

“This is the greatest part of the system. It also means we are all ­responsible for affecting change and making sure that our honours and awards reflect the diversity of our society,” he said.

“I believe we can get to 50-50 in the next few years and improve diversity in other ways. I’ll work hard on this and I urge all Australians to join me”.

General Hurley at his swearing-in last year. Picture: Getty Images

The problem in the gender balance has not been that men have a markedly better chance of being bestowed an honour if nominated, but that fewer nominations, which can come from any Australian, have been for women.

In the General Division for this year’s Queen’s Birthday honours, 574 men and 415 women were considered in nominations. Of those, 73 per cent of the male nominees received an award, and 70 per cent of the female nominees.

As recently as two years ago, the proportion of women who ­received awards was still hovering around a third — 32 per cent in 2015-16, 33 per cent in 2016-17, and 35 per cent in 2017-18.

Government House said a concerted push had improved the gender balance, with the Governor-General raising the issue in addresses and officials working with Offices for Women and other groups. General Hurley said his was a simple message. “If you know an outstanding woman who has served and made a difference to their community then nominate them.”

While the proportion of women conferred awards in the General Division improved overall from past years, and two out of three to receive the top honour were female, the second highest gong, that of Officer of the Order of Australia, was weighted heavily towards males.

Of the 50 AOs, only 13, or 26 per cent went to women.

Of the 200 Australians ­bestowed the third highest honour, that of Member of Order of Australia, 119 were men and 81 women, while the remaining honour, a Medal of the Order, divided 263 male against 194 female.

In the breakdown by category of endeavour and activity, the largest number of awards in the General Division were for community service, with a roughly equal balance of 149 men and 135 women.

In sport, males dominated awards, with 34 going to men and 12 to women. Honours for the arts split 22 male and 23 female, while education divided 27 against 25, and medicine 49 to 27.