Women make up just 20 per cent of Australia’s highly technical workforce. After the age of 40, that falls to 16 per cent, according to the Tech Council of Australia, because women leave these roles at twice the rate of men. Across the wider economy, women still earn 21.1 per cent less than men, a gap worth A$28,356 a year, according to the Workplace Gender Equality Agency.

The women working to close those gaps rarely get the spotlight, or the funding. L’Oréal Paris wants to change that.

Entries for its first Women for Worth Award in Australia and New Zealand open on 10 November and close on 31 December 2026. Four leaders of not-for-profit programs that empower women will each receive an A$32,000 charitable grant, mentoring through the L’Oréal Paris network, and a national and global platform to share their story.

Four communities, four honourees

One honouree will be named in each of four communities:

Women & Tech (including AI): organisations supporting women in digital and technology fieldsWomen & Sport: programs that lift participation, coaching pathways and leadership for women and girlsWomen & Culture (including cinema): organisations advancing women’s representation, voice and leadership in culture, the creative industries, media and educationMen for Worth: men leading organisations committed to gender equality in those three fields, including school programs that engage boys and young men as allies

The three women’s categories are open to people who identify as female or non-binary. Men for Worth is open to people who identify as male or non-binary.

What the judges are looking for

Entrants must be tackling at least one of four challenges that women themselves named as priorities in L’Oréal Paris’s Self-Worth Tracker, research run with Ipsos and the University of Oxford:

Security: physical and psychological safety in public and private spacesEqual pay: equal remuneration and rightsFinancial independence: access to employment, resources and economic autonomyAccess to employment: professional inclusion, training and career progression

L’Oréal Paris and its partner, Plan International Australia, will shortlist up to five finalists per category. They will judge entries on impact that can be shown and measured, fit with the four challenges, roots in the community, and the potential to inspire and reach others.

The final panel is chaired by Susanne Legena, CEO of Plan International Australia, with support from social impact experts. Alongside her are local voices from culture, sport, technology and gender equality:

Grace Brown, co-founder and CEO of Andromeda RoboticsMary Fowler, Matildas and Manchester City star and L’Oréal Paris ANZ ambassadorAsher Keddie, multi-award-winning actor, producer and L’Oréal Paris brand partnerTarang Chawla, gender equality and masculinities expert, advocate and educator, and a partner in L’Oréal Paris’s Stand Up Against Street Harassment programWho can enter: read this before you start

This is not an award for startups or businesses. To be eligible, you must:

Hold a leadership role (founder, co-founder, CEO, executive director, program or operations director, board member or president) in a program run under a registered not-for-profit in Australia or New Zealand. Alternatively, the organisation can itself be a registered not-for-profit, social enterprise or incorporated association that commits its surplus to its social mission.Lead a program whose primary mission is social progress for women.Have held that role for at least two years, at an organisation that has operated for at least two years, by 31 December 2026.Be an Australian or New Zealand citizen or permanent resident, aged 18 or over.

Entry is free. You can apply yourself or nominate someone else, but you need the nominee’s permission first, and they must confirm in writing. Each candidate can enter one community only, and candidates may face identity and background checks.

Why it matters for women in tech

The award is the local arm of L’Oréal Paris’s global Women for Worth program. In the US, the brand’s Women of Worth program has run since 2005 and has recognised 200 women.

For tech, it is a rare grant aimed squarely at the people doing the hard, unglamorous work of keeping women in the pipeline. Think coding clubs for girls, return-to-work programs for mid-career engineers, and mentoring networks for women in cyber and AI.

At Women Love Tech, we have spent 15 years telling the stories of women who build, code and lead. Many of them run exactly the kind of grassroots programs this award was designed for. If that is you, or someone you know, don’t let the deadline slip by in the Christmas rush.

How to enter