Labor will aim for 40% of Australian honours to be awarded to women in its first year in office under a plan to “modernise” the system by boosting underrepresented groups.
Labor’s shadow women’s minister, Tanya Plibersek, announced the plan on Thursday, suggesting the gender imbalance in honours could be fixed by more female-friendly awards categories.
Since 1975, women have received about 30% of all awards in the order of Australia’s general division, a figure that is set to increase to 35% in the Australia Day honours for 2019.
Plibersek said Australia should not “rest on our laurels” despite the improvement, promising that Labor will set a 40% target by 2020 with the “ultimate aim” of half of all awards going to women.
“Women contribute as much as men, and our honours and awards should properly reflect that,” she said.
Plibersek blamed the prevalence of male-dominated professions in award categories for the over-representation of men.
She noted there are standalone categories for building and construction, engineering, mining, and primary industry, while the female-dominated profession of nursing is subsumed into the broader category of medicine.
In last June’s Queen’s birthday honours, male recipients outnumbered female recipients in almost 90% of categories.
No women received awards in the categories of dentistry, IT, architecture, industrial relations, surveying and mapping, transport or veterinary science.
“Labor will make the award categories more representative to broaden the types of contributions that are recognised, including in traditionally female-dominated industries,” Plibersek said.
Women currently make up only 30% of nominees, which Labor will address through consultation with the states and territories, governor general and women’s groups to boost the number of nominations of women.
The policy does not contain targets for other underrepresented groups, but Plibersek said Labor will “better recognise” the contribution of First Nations people, culturally diverse, or Australians living with a disability.
The award nomination form would be changed to ask if a nominee comes from these groups, which will help “better monitor progress”, Plibersek said.
