Even among honours recognising contributions to the community, men received three awards to every two bestowed on women. In two categories, surveying and mining, men received every one of 43 honours.
The overall split - 68 per cent male, 32 per cent female -was ''disheartening'', said Federal Sex Discrimination Commissioner Elizabeth Broderick.
She said the disparity showed a ''lack of visibility'' for work done by women, who provided most of the nation's unpaid caring work.
She also noted women frequently ran the nation's not-for-profit organisations. Yet they lacked equal recognition in the country's highest awards.
''One of the messages it potentially sends is that women are not contributing at the same level as men in Australian society, and I disagree with that,'' Ms Broderick said.
Author and social commentator Jane Caro described the situation as ''sadly predictable'' and said it adhered to ''the 30 per cent rule'', alluding to similar ratios of women elsewhere in society, including in parliaments and the media.
The effect, she said, was to deem contributions by women as less valuable than those made by men.
''That's a devastating thing to say to half the population,'' she said.
''We approve of women when they do things for love. We are rather less likely to approve of them when they do things for money. For men, it is precisely the opposite.''
Nominations come from the community and were reviewed by the council of 11 men and 5 women. By coincidence this ratio seems to reflect the awards themselves.
The analysis of the past 14 years, using figures from the council, showed women stood a better chance of advancing from nomination to award, with 68 per cent of women progressing versus 61 per cent of men.
Read more:
No comments:
Post a Comment