I wasn’t going to blog this weekend or until after my exams are done, but then I read the Queen’s Birthday Honours List as printed in The Age (gotta love the sub-editor who failed to notice “brithday”) and was absolutely horrified by the lack of female representation in the awards. On my visual count (and I counted a total of 653 awards approximately), only 28% of the awards went to women. All categories had an appalling representation of women. Just looking at the police force and armed services and you’d think that there were next to no women in those fields. Women make up slightly over half of the population, why are women making up far less than half of the QUEEN’s birthday list?
My count is as follows:
Order of Australia
Companion (AC) in the general division
Total awardees – 5
No of women – 1
Officer (AO) in the General Division
Total awardees – 21
No of women – 5
Officer (AO) in the Military Division
Royal Australian Navy
Total awardees – 1
No of women – 0
Royal Australian Air Force
Total awardees – 1
No of women – 0
Member (AM) in the General Division
Total awardees – 136
No of women – 33 – 35 (two awardee’s gender could not be identified)
Member (AM) in the Military Division
Royal Australian Navy
Total awardees – 2
No of women – 0
Australian Army
Total awardees – 8
No of women – 0
Medal (OAM) in the general division
Total awardees – 303 (approx)
No of women – 118 (approx)
Medal (OAM) in the Military Division
Royal Australian Navy
Total awardees – 2
No of women – 0
Australian Army
Total awardees – 5
No of women – 0
Royal Australian Air Force
Total awardees – 4
No of women – 0
Australian Public Service Medal
Australian Public Service
Total awardees – 17
No of women – 5
NSW Public Service
Total awardees – 11
No of women – 1
Victoria Public Service
Total awardees – 6
No of women – 2
Queensland Public Service
Total awardees – 5
No of women – 2
Western Australia Public Service
Total awardees – 1
No of women – 1
South Australia Public Service
Total awardees – 3
No of women – 1
Australian Police Medal
Australian Federal Police
Total awardees – 2
No of women – 0
NSW Police
Total awardees – 8
No of women – 0
Victoria Police
Total awardees – 5
No of women – 1
Queensland Police
Total awardees – 6
No of women – 1
Western Australia Police
Total awardees – 4
No of women – 0
South Australia Police
Total awardees – 3
No of women – 0
Tasmania Police
Total awardees – 1
No of women – 0
Nothern Territory
Total awardees – 1
No of women – 0
Australian Fire Service Medal
NSW Fire Services
Total awardees – 11
No of women – 0
Victoria Fire Services
Total awardees – 9
No of women – 0
Queensland Fire Services
Total awardees – 3
No of women – 0
Western Australia Fire Services
Total awardees – 1
No of women – 0
South Australian Fire Services
Total awardees – 2
No of women – 1
ACT Fire Services
Total awardees – 1
No of women – 0
Ambulance Service Medal (ASM)
Queensland Ambulance Service
Total awardees – 2
No of women – 0
South Australian Ambulance Service
Total awardees – 1
No of women – 0
ACT Ambulance Service
Total awardees – 1
No of women – 1
Emergency Services Medal (ESM)
Queensland Emergency Services
Total awardees – 3
No of women – 0
Western Australia Emergency Services
Total awardees – 3
No of women – 0
South Australia Emergency Services
Total awardees – 1
No of women – 0
Commendation for Gallantry
Australian Army
Total awardees – 3
No of women – 0
Distinguished Service Medal (DSM)
Australian Army
Total awardees – 4
No of women – 0
Commendation for Distinguished Service
Australian Army
Total awardees – 8
No of women – 0
Bar to the Conspicuous Service Cross
Australian Army
Total awardees – 1
No of women – 0
Conspicuous Service Cross (CSC)
Royal Australian Navy
Total awardees – 6
No of women – 0
Australian Army
Total awardees – 9
No of women – 1
Royal Australian Air Force
Total awardees – 6
No of women – 1
Conspicuous Service Medal (CSM)
Royal Australian Navy
Total awardees – 3
No of women – 1
Australian Army
Total awardees – 13
No of women – 4
Royal Australian Air Force
Total awardees – 4
No of women – 1
Total awardees – 653 (approx)
Total No of women – 183 (approx)
Percentage representation – 28%