Renee O'Shanassy Named Recipient of the 2025 Wilma Rule Award on Gender and Politics

We are pleased to announce that Renee O'Shanassy has been selected as the recipient of the 2025 Wilma Rule Award on Gender and Politics. She is currently pursuing her PhD at the School of Politics and International Relations at the Australian National University.

The Wilma Rule Award was established to encourage research in gender and politics and was launched at the 2000 IPSA World Congress. The IPSA Awards Committee has recommended naming the award in tribute to the work of Wilma Rule. Wilma Rule’s study of gender and politics led to a lifetime of research on electoral systems and how they facilitated or hindered the election of women and underrepresented minorities to public office. Wilma Rule was a leading writer and political science researcher whose work resulted in a number of articles and books that challenge conventional notions about the reasons for the lack of political representation by women in the US.

Renee O'Shanassy 
Ms. O’Shanassy commenced her PhD in 2023, focusing on gender equality and feminist advocacy at UN norm-building institutions. She holds a Master of Arts (Women's Studies) from Flinders University, a Master's in Public Policy and Management from Monash University and a Bachelor of Laws/Bachelor of International Relations from La Trobe University. Ms. O’Shanassy has worked with the UNDP, the Australian Public Service, development organisations, and in academia.