It's a long list of white men getting yet another reward for the jobs they are already paid to do. The lawyers. The doctors. The superannuated politicians. I get that some of these people have contributed way above what they are paid to do. Yet mostly they are paid quite a lot and have rarely saved a life or changed a life.

So twice a year I vow to nominate someone for an Order of Australia honour. I know so many good women yet, when I go to make a nomination, I feel totally deflated.

It's four parts of hell and this particular path is paved with my good intentions. Only the first line is straightforward. Yes, I know her name. I've even typed her name into the required box about half a dozen times. It's the rest of the form that is a killer, and which requires you to know much more about the person than should be necessary.

Here's an example. Place of birth. Not just the country but the actual town or suburb. Or the certificate of "naturalisation" and its goddam number.

Fine. You can ring the person and ask for the details, right?

Wrong. Under no circumstance are you permitted to tell the person you plan to nominate them. The form doesn't actually explain why that's a no-no, just that it is. It's about now that I lose all hope. The form then asks me for my nominee's dates of service.

How am I supposed to know that? I'm impressed by the person and the contribution they have made but I don't have their name, rank or naturalisation number. I don't have a blow-by-blow account of their history over time. In some cases, it's unlikely I even have her phone number.

And I don't have a spare 40 hours to do the research. On top of all that, if you want to nominate someone, you need to ask people to be their referees!

Enter Ruth McGowan and friends, Carol Kiernan and Elizabeth Hartnell-Young. Enter Honour A Woman.

McGowan has a history of generosity. She's sister to Cathy McGowan, of the seat of Indi, famous safe-seat slayer. And last year, we had a glimpse of sisterly generosity when ABC personality Libbi Gorr interviewed Ruth about the part she and the extended McGowan family played in Cathy's win.

Ruth told Gorr: "As a family, we've got her back [and our role is] to love her and nurture her and look after her."

Now she is turning that nurturing on the broad Australian community, that of women who've worked in the public eye, for the public good, but had little or no public recognition. Ruth herself has a medal of the Order of Australia in the general division for work as a supporter and advocate for children with leukodystrophy (see the movie Lorenzo's Oil).

But wait, there's much more. She was vice-president of the Victorian Local Governance Association, working particularly on women's participation. And that was on top of her paid job in the public service.

Cathy McGowan, too, has an award for work in the community, way before she was elected to Indi.

Ruth's view is that she just wants to be able to pass it on: the recognition and the knowledge about how to make a successful nomination. "There are so many amazing women who aren't acknowledged and honoured, so many out there who deserve it, sometimes I just shake my head."

Ruth has made a number of successful nominations herself. She says she knows it's a hurdle not to be able to speak to the person herself but you can always try colleagues, friends and family.

So what exactly is Honour A Woman? Ruth describes it as a movement of Australians working towards gender equality in the Australian honours system. But it will also work in the way that peer support does, providing information for those who need it, explaining exactly how it all works. The goal is set for 2020 (my God, only three years away) for women to make up half the nominations. Will it work? Ruth describes the group as "kick-arse doers".

The good news on this year's honours list is that the conversion rate was pretty good. Female nominees increased from 31.1 per cent to 32.9 per cent and those eventually honoured accounted for just under 35 per cent; a little better than usual but not much. Considering women do a huge proportion of volunteering, you'd expect 50-50.

Earlier this year, a spokesman for the Australian honours and awards branch at the Office of the Governor-General was quoted as saying the office was "acutely aware" of the problem. The spokesman went on to say the issue was with the public, not the awards themselves.

Of course, the organisation could start with a few more women itself. The Council for the Order of Australia is practically a sausage-fest. The only female community representative is Elizabeth Broderick. And thank god for the ACT, which sends Kathy Leigh as one of the state and territory government representatives. And Elizabeth Kelly, deputy secretary, governance group, Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet, is an ex-officio representative.

Some of these officials could muscle up and send some more women, which would be a start on the road to gender equity.

The rest is up to us. Ruth says we need to nominate. And this is where you and I come in. We need to nominate women.

I've written too many stories about the problem, now I need to get in and write a bloody nomination. I will if you will.

Jenna Price is a columnist for The Canberra Times and Daily Life and a senior lecturer in journalism at the University of Technology, Sydney.

Twitter: @JennaPrice

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