Supporters & Partners
Messages from our Supporters
We need to fight. We have to have a watertight plan, with specific goals, and a timeline. And we need to do it together. A fragmented movement will not win.

Older Women’s Network
The Older Women’s Network NSW (OWN) is proud to convene the Edna Ryan Awards.
OWN is a long standing feminist organisation which empowers women as they age, and which advocates for the rights, dignity and wellbeing of older women.
OWN is honored that the family of Edna Ryan and the previous committee which has worked so hard to oversee the awards have put their trust in us. We believe in inter-generational solidarity and look forward to celebrating the women who have kept the legacy of Edna Ryan alive.
Edna Ryan continued to fight for equality until she died. Her most significant work on equal pay was achieved after she turned sixty, demonstrating that age is no barrier to activism and changing the world!
OWN will draw on our long standing expertise to run the awards, and will establish a review committee to manage, oversee and promote these awards.

The Australian Services Union
The Australian Services Union NSW & ACT (Services) Branch is very proud to host and support the Edna Ryan Awards which celebrates women who make a feminist difference.
Throughout her life Edna Ryan worked towards making a better world, especially for women. Improving conditions for women workers was “the area of feminist change dearest to Edna’s heart”.
Among her many achievements was the preparation and presentation of the now famous submission on the minimum wage to the National Wage Case in 1974.
Building on this, on 1 February 2012 the ASU won a historic Equal Pay Case for social and community workers across Australia.
In a landmark decision, Fair Work Australia agreed with the case presented by the ASU – that care work has been undervalued because of gender: the industry has been traditionally dominated by women, and care work is undervalued because it is viewed as ‘women’s work’.
This decision will result in pay rises of between 23 and 45% for social, community and disability workers across Australia.
Like Edna, the ASU has a proud history of defending and advancing the rights of workers, and particularly women workers.
For more information about the Australian Services Union NSW & ACT (Services) Branch: www.asumembers.org.au

GiVE so the Awards Continue
We need your support, however modest, to help these awards grow and thrive. Your support can help spread the news about the EDNAS far and wide to attract diverse nominations and publicise the unsung heroines amongst us.