Common perceptions of Canberra's women would have many believe the city was only filled with middle-class females who were highly educated and economically empowered.
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But an online photographic project aims to challenge that myth and document the diversity, complexity and varied life experiences of women who call the capital home.
The Women's Centre for Health Matters has asked 25 females to divulge details of their lives and wellbeing through its newly launched website, Women of Canberra.
It was inspired by the hugely popular Humans of New York blog, which has documented the lives of Manhattanites through bold photographs, pithy quotes and written snippets on subjects' lives since 2010.
Speaking at the website's launch, Women's Centre for Health Matters health promotion officer Jenni Gough said it aimed to celebrate and spotlight the variety of women who called the capital home.
"Women of Canberra is a community arts project that aims to delve into the different joys, hopes and fears of women from all different walks of life in our community, and at the same time to confront existing stereotypes of Canberra women.
"The stories told by policy, statistics and media give the impression that women in Canberra are a homogenous group – highly educated, economically empowered and out-performing their competition in other states and territories on many indicators.
"We know from our community engagement work ... that women in Canberra are actually a culturally and socio-economically diverse group, with struggles and aspirations that aren't captured by mainstream narratives."
Ms Gough said the number of profiles, which do not include women's names or personal details, was expected to swell throughout the year to document 100 women in time for the organisation's 25th birthday in November.
A small group of amateur female photographers have so far captured images of high-profile women such as Canberra MP Gai Brodtmann, ACT Human Rights Commissioner Helen Watchirs and ACT Council of Social Service director Susan Helyar.
Their stories and photographs sit alongside profiles of a doctor, foster carer, triathlete, artist, restaurant owner, former prison inmate, domestic violence survivor, an intersex woman, and women from nine different ethnicities who were interviewed at this year's Multicultural Festival.
"In the few weeks we have been interviewing and snapping away, we found several things about the women of Canberra," Ms Gough said.
"One, Canberra is jam-packed with women with rich life experience. Two, it seems like the best thing about Canberra for women is family and community connections.
"Also, many of the women identified one of the best things about being a woman in Canberra, is the vast amount of really wonderful women."
Many also spoke of the city's sense of safety and the pleasure of enjoying its natural surrounds, and many said time poverty was still a huge challenge for women.
"Our hope is that this will be a rich, powerful insight into the amazing breadth of lived experience of women in Canberra in 2015."
Details: Visit womenofcanberra.org.au.
