Girls' petition to put a woman's name on a sporting house at Turner School

Ruby, 11, and Ellie, nine, have started a petition at Turner School to ensure the names of their sporting houses have female representation as well.

At the moment, all four sporting houses feature the name of a man, a past governor-general.

Stonehaven (blue) is for John Lawrence Baird, 1st Viscount Stonehaven; Isaacs (red) is for Sir Issac Issacs; Gowrie (yellow) is for Brigadier-General Alexander Hore-Ruthven, 1st Baron Gowrie; and Gloucester (green) is for Prince Henry, Duke of Gloucestor.

"We believe that our school should be represented in a way that both genders are equal and that not one gender is more dominant or diminutive than the other," the girls said in an email to The Canberra Times.

"We have created a petition form and are trying to collect at least 200 signatures from students at our school on the behalf of changing some of the house names to female names.

"Once we have accomplished this, we are going to present it to our principal to see if she can be swayed. If women are ever going to be equal to men, they need to get the opportunity."

The daughters of two lawyers, the girls are using to having to present a strong argument. They believe the time is right for a female name to grace one of the sporting houses. And Bryce is there for the taking, now Australia has had its first female Governor-General, Quentin Bryce, who held the post from 2008 to 2014.

"I just want to make a change," Ruby said.

Ruby, who is a vice-captain at the school, said she started to think about equality more when she "heard recently that women are paid less than men for the same work".

She says her idea of a feminist is "someone who feels strongly and wants to make a change and sometimes has to be really strong for people".

"I know feminists do a lot of hard work," she said.

The girls have so far collected 100 signatures and plan to present their petition to the school's Student Representative Council

Principal Jo Padgham said the girls had discussed the idea at class meetings and a range of views had already been presented.

Some students wanted a change; others were worried they might lose the name of their sporting house. One thought was a fifth house with a new name and new colour.

Ms Padgham said the school was toying with the idea of a debate so each side could put their views respectfully.

She said the school did promote men and women achievers in other ways. The names of their classes were named in honour of both sexes in science, technology, engineering and maths.

Ms Padgham said she was "absolutely" very proud of the girls for showing their initiative.

Ellie said her classmates had told her the petition was a good idea. Ruby was glad it had got people thinking and talking about equality.

"I feel very passionate about it and I'm glad I started it," she said.