The Ednas 2021
The Edna Ryan Awards celebrate women who contribute to improving the lives of womEn and girls
Women who persist, strive, advocate and fight to make a feminist difference.
Women who are often unsung and unrecognised.
The Edna Ryan Awards are named in honour of a woman who fought valiantly for equal pay and equal rights for women.
The fight continues and so do these awards.
Nominations are now closed
Thank you for your submissions and interest in the Edna Ryan Awards. We are currently in the process of collating all the impressive entries. Please check back for news on the presentation and award finalists.
“Only when a society values distributive justice and multi-vocality, will the voices of its entire people be free. Only then will it be safe for each of us to add our narrative to the dominant social and political discourse. Only then will our country be equipped to engage in a fair and diverse feminist debate which has the potential to empower all.”
“I have always known that as a woman I would need to work harder than my male counterparts to be seen as an equal, and I have made it my life’s work to do just that. It is important that we show the future generations of women that we can forge success in the face of oppression and sexism. We need to always remember that we are valuable, powerful, and we should never doubt ourselves.”
Erin Wen Ai Chew
Entrepeneur, social activist, founder of the Asian Australian Alliance
Past AWARd recipients
fEMPOWER | Grand Stirrer
The Grand Stirrer Award. For inciting others to challenge the status quo.
Helen L’Orange | Leadership
For leading feminist changes in the public sphere.
Mary O’Sullivan | Community Activism
For feminist activity in the community.
Marilyn Hatton | Leadership
For leading feminist changes in the public sphere.
Deborah Brennan | Education
For a special contribution to the education of women and girls.
Pearlie McNeill | Arts
For creative feminism.
Margot Oliver | Media
For consistent promotion of feminist perspectives in the media.
Leonie McGuire | Community Activism
For feminist activity in the community.
Lee Lewis | Arts
For creative feminism.
“Pinch me, it’s a miracle handed out on my birthday. It could have been decided years and years ago. We’d given up hope, and now, bang, here it is in writing,”
– Edna Ryan, aged 68, writing in her diary after the National Wage Case decision in 1972 that gave one and a half million women equal pay with men.
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Reach Us
Older Women’s Network NSW
8-10 Victoria Street,
Newtown NSW 2042, Australia.
+61 – 2 – 9519 8044
We acknowledge the traditional custodians of the land on which we work and live, and we pay our respects to Elders past and present.
We acknowledge the sorrow of the Stolen Generations and the impacts of colonisation on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.
Edna Ryan Awards supports the Uluru Statement from the Heart, the call for a First Nation's Voice enshrined in the Australian Constitution and a Makarrata Commission to oversee agreement-making and truth-telling.