The National Committee for Gender Equity is now in its second term, with the new committee members joining the committee in April 2016 for the annual face-to-face meeting in Adelaide. Emma Williamson (WA) stepped down as chair of the committee and Lee Hillam (NSW) was nominated to lead the committee through the next two-year term.

The Committee’s membership intentionally represents almost every chapter, with a mix of men and women from small, medium and large practices as well as academia. This mix has enabled the NCGE to position itself as a unified voice from a diverse background.

The following is a brief outline of the work of the NCGE as identified at the face-to-face meeting, which tables current objectives and the committee’s plans for the year ahead.

• • The NCGE is working in each state to support a Gender Equity Taskforce (GET). Already, through the work of the NCGE and off the back of the established and prolific NSW GET, we are seeing fledgling GETs in the ACT, Tasmania and Western Australia.

• • The Paula Whitman Leadership in Gender Equity prize, an initiative of the NCGE, has now been launched and the committee will continue to support this initiative through regular promotions and comms to ensure the prize reaches as wide an audience as possible.

• • The committee will continue to raise the profile of women and equity, through the Women in Architecture series which is distributed through the Institute’s National E-News and Parlour.

• • Articles on pay equity and other related topics are also scheduled to be published throughout the remainder of the year. Gender based pay inequity is a priority for the NCGE this year. An article calling for all practices to look at their pay rates as we start a new financial year was distributed in National E-news in early July.
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  • The committee is also aiming to collaborate more closely with Chapters, GET groups, SONA and EmAGN, Universities and other industry bodies such as the Property Council. The committee continues to work closely with Parlour, to ensure that all Institute members benefit from the Institute’s partnership with the organisation, including assisting with their initiative Marion’s List, a public register of the women of Australian architecture designed to convey the richness and depth of involvement of women in the profession and the discipline. Read more about Marion’s List on the Parlour website.