International Womens Day: It’s time to #NominateHer

This International Womens Day (8 March), Science & Technology Australia is calling on every Australian to #NominateHer to celebrate inspiring, capable women across the country.

A recent study published in Nature looked at the recipients of awards in biomedicine in the USA, and it found a stark gap in gender representation.

President of Science & Technology Australia, Professor Emma Johnston AO, said only 24% of recipients of the three most prominent science prizes in 2018 were female (excluding female-only awards).

“Last year, we saw some amazing science recognised through national awards – the Prime Ministers Prizes for Science, the Eureka Awards, and the Academy of Science’s honorific awards,” she said.

“Across these three award programs, which span the full gambit of science and technology, only one quarter of those recognised were women.”

“I think we can do better than that.”

The Nature study also found where there was greater prize money, the gender gap was even more stark.

“We are facing similar disparity here in Australia, as over the life of the Prime Minister’s Prizes for example, only 20% of recipients have been female,” Professor Johnston.

“According to those who run the awards, the issue comes down to a lack of nominations.”

She said International Womens Day would be the perfect time for Australians to #NominateHer, to make sure this wasn’t a problem in 2019.

“We are proud to build on great campaigns like ‘Honour a Woman’, which seek to bring balance to Australian awards and honours,” she said.

“We know there are hundreds of inspiring women who do fantastic, ground-breaking work across Australia, and we hope that 2019 will be the year we even the odds.”

“We want to see nominations for a range of leading and emerging scientists – who will you be nominating today?”

Awards that are currently open for nominations include: