We conducted a survey of some of the most prestigious academic prizes awarded by professional associations in philosophy in the Australia, Canada and the United States. The principal source of information was these associations’ websites and the time period covered by this audit was limited by information detailed in the sites visited. This is not an exhaustive audit of all the awards granted by these associations. We focused on awards that had a research emphasis, covering book or articles, and lifetime awards. These awards offered a clearer insight into what makes up for perceptions of excellence in the discipline. Identifying recipients required detailed tracking of recipients with unisex or foreign names in university websites and other publications. Information on awards that celebrated the contribution of women and feminist scholarship are detailed as appropriate.

The British Philosophical Association confirmed in correspondence that the Association neither awards prizes, nor keeps a list of awards made in the UK for work in philosophy.

Awards that acknowledge excellence in the field of philosophy are often specific to a sub-field of the discipline and are not country-specific. A selection of these awards will be included in this section soon.

Australasian Association of Philosophy (AAP)

The Australasian Association of Philosophy (AAP) awards nine prizes, some of which recognise articles, postgraduates and women philosophers. The AAP established an annual prize in 2007 for the best paper published in the Australasian Journal of Philosophy in the previous year. Since then, 12 philosophers have been awarded this prize, one of them a woman, the most recent award made. In 2015 the AAP began to acknowledge the best paper presented by a postgraduate student at the annual AAP conference. Four students have since been awarded this accolade, one of them a woman, the most recent award made. The Alan Saunders Memorial lecture, established in 2013, aims to make philosophy more accessible to a broader audience: 63 per cent of lectures have been given by women philosophers.

Another important award is the Annette Claire Baier prize which recognizes a significant philosophical paper or book chapter published by a woman during the previous year. It was established in 2016 in honour of Annette Claire Baier who was a New Zealand philosopher and Hume scholar, focused in particular on Hume’s moral psychology.

The other AAP prizes are:

• Prize for Innovation in Inclusive Curricula, established 2014, for the development of innovative approaches to teaching philosophy.
• Media Prize, established 1999, for the best philosophical piece(s) published by a professional philosopher in the popular media in Australasia during the previous calendar year.
• Best Paper Award, established 20067, an annual prize for the best paper published in the Australasian Journal of Philosophy (AJP) in the previous year.
• Postgraduate Presentation Prize, established 2015, for the best paper presented by a postgraduate student at the AAP annual conference.

Figure 1. Australasian Association of Philosophy awards, 1999-2020

Source: GESS researchers’ calculations, data collected from the Australasian Association of Philosophy website (accessed January 2021).

Canadian Philosophy Association (CPA)

The Canadian Philosophy Association has established three groups of awards. A biennial book prize acknowledges a maximum of three books contributions in philosophy published by members of the Association. An analysis of the list of laureates shows that since 2000 women represented 23 per cent of all of those recognised by the prize. Since 2012 the Association has awarded two essay prizes for faculty papers submitted to the annual conference: one for authors with a completed doctorate and a pre-tenure, or non-tenure professor, lecturer or sessional staff and the other for tenured professors: in both awards women have received fewer than 40 per cent of the awards. The Student Essay Prize is awarded to up to three papers submitted by students for the annual congress of the CPA. Since 1995 a quarter of the recipients of this award were women.

Figure 2. Distribution of Canadian Philosophy Association prizes by gender, 1995-2020

Source: GESS researchers’ calculations, data collected from CPA website (accessed January 2021).

American Philosophical Association (APA)

The American Philosophical Association (APA) provides a range of prizes, lectures and fellowships. These cover work by undergraduate or graduate students including books, field-specific articles or lifetime contributions. An audit of recipients of over twenty separate accolades provides an important insight into women’s under-representation in the discipline.

The visibility of women’s contribution across the fields in Philosophy is uneven. Launched in 2007, the Joseph B. Gittler Award has recognised important contributions across philosophy in one or more of the social sciences. Around 25 per cent of all recipients of the Joseph B. Gittler Award have been women. The Sanders Book Prize recognises the best book in the philosophy of mind, metaphysic or epistemology in the five years prior. Since 2013 three women have been recognised by this award, making up a third of all award recipients. Women were less visible in other prominent fields of the discipline. The K. J. Barwise prize, recognizes significant and continued contributions to the field of philosophy and computing by a member of the APA. Since 2002 women have represented 17per cent of all awards winners. The Berger Memorial Prize recognises a significant article in the philosophy of law. An audit of recipients over a period of forty years shows that women represent 19 per cent of all honourees. The essay prize in Latin American thought acknowledges the best unpublished, English language and philosophical essay in Latin American thought. Since 2004, only two of a total of 15 recipients has been a woman. The Gregory Kavka / University of California Prize in Political Philosophy is awarded to an article published in the broad area of political philosophy. Since 1999 just two of the ten recipients of this accolade has been women. The Frank Chapman Sharp Memorial Prize for the best unpublished essay or monograph on the philosophy of war and peace has not, since its inception in 1991, been awarded to a woman. Two further prizes are not shown in Figure 3: The Israel Scheffler Prize in Philosophy of Education, established in 2017 and awarded every three years, whose inaugural recipient was a woman; and the Arthur Danto/American Society for Aesthetics Prize which has been awarded twice since its establishment in 2018, once to a man, and once to a co-authored paper by a man and a woman.

Two APA awards have been named for women philosophers. The Joyce Mitchell Cook Award in recognition of a trailblazing black woman philosopher was established in 2014, the only year it which it has been awarded. The award has been suspended. Feminist theory is one of the themes of the Jean Hampton Prize, awarded to a young philosopher whose paper has been accepted for the APA Pacific Division meeting. Other themes include social and political philosophy, the foundations of ethics, normative ethics, the philosophy of law, rational choice theory, Hobbes to Hume, Kant, realism, and pragmatism. This award is made biennially and since 1998 has been received by two women out of a total of 12 recipients.

Five prizes have celebrated the contribution of young philosophers and students to the discipline. One of the awards is the APA award to the best article and best book published by a younger scholar, awarded in alternate years. Since 2000 just 18 per cent of article award winners were women, however, 36 per cent of book award winners were women. The annual Sanders Graduate student awards recognise the three best articles submitted to the APA Eastern Division meeting by graduates in the field of mind, metaphysics, epistemology or ethics. Since 2015 33 over cent of recipients have been women. The William James Prize recognises the best paper written by a recent doctorate or a graduate student in the Eastern Division program. Since 2003 25 per cent of all recipients were women.

Two awards have placed a focus on the employment position of the author. The Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group prize was established in 2013 to recognize the best published articles in philosophy by adjunct professors: a mere 15 per cent of those that have received this prize are women. An award that recognises the contribution of a growing community of academics without security of tenure is the Journal of Value Inquiry Prize, awarded for the best unpublished article in philosophy by a a non-academically affiliated philosopher. This award since 1984 has been made to two women, just 9 per cent of all recipients. It is possible that this significant gap can be traced to limited access to resources and networks of support.

Women were more visible in awards such as the Dr Martin Lebowitz and Eve Lebowitz Prize that recognises philosophical achievement and contribution. It is awarded by the Phi Beta Kappa Society and the APA. Half of all recipients of this award since 2013 were women. The Philip L. Quinn prize celebrates service to philosophy and philosophers: since its establishment in 2007 43 per cent of all recipients were women.

Figure 3. Distribution of American Philosophical Associationawards by gender, 2020

Source: GESS researchers’ calculations, data collected from APA website (accessed January 2021).

Fellowships and lecture series have played an important role in acknowledging contributions to the discipline. One of the oldest honours is the Carus Lectures which since 1925 havw recognised the contribution of close to 40 philosophers, just 16 per cent of whom have been women. However, it is important to note that since 1995 women have represented 50 per cent of all philosophers awarded the accolade. Some of the women recognised through the Carus lecturers include Nancy Cartwright (2017) and Sally Haslanger (2012). Women have been better represented in the John Dewey lectures that invite prominent and senior philosophers to reflect on philosophy in America. Since 2006-7 these lectures have recognised over 40 philosophers, 48 per cent of whom have been women. Another significant fellowship is the Walter de Gruyter Stiftung Kant Lecture Series which recognises contributions in the Kantian tradition. Four women have been recognised for their work in this area out of a total of eight philosophers awarded this honour since 2013-14. Women have been less visible in other areas of the discipline. First established in 1981 the Patrick Romanell Lecture recognises contributions on the topic of philosophical naturalism: 27 per cent of those that have received this award since 1986 were women. The Sanders Lecture recognises contributions to the field of philosophy of mind, metaphysics, or epistemology: since 2013-14 just 13 per cent of all recipients were women. The Josiah Royce Lectures, established in the late 1970s, recognises contributions on the topic of the philosophy of mind: since 1983 22 per cent of the recipients of this honour have been women. The David Baumgardt Memorial Fellowship has recognized contributions in the field of ethics. First awarded in 1976, only 9.1 per cent of all those recognised were women.  The latest APA lecture award, the Ernest Sosa Prize Lecture, recognises outstanding contributors to epistemology. The inaugural award was made in 2021 to a man.

Figure 4. Distribution of American Philosophical Associationlecture series by gender, 2020

Source: GESS researchers’ calculations, data collected from APA website (accessed January 2021).

International awards

The Kyoto Prizes are widely regarded as the most prestigious awards available in fields not traditionally honoured with a Nobel Prize. The Kyoto Prize in Arts and Philosophy: Thought and Ethics is awarded every four years. In 2012 Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak was the first woman to receive this award. She was followed in 2016 by Martha Nussbaum. These two women make up 25 per cent of all awardees. The Rolf Schock Prizes, worth US$60,000 each, are administered by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences. Their Laureate in Logic and Philosophy has been awarded biennially since 1993 and Ruth Millikan was the first and only woman to receive it (in 2017). The Lakatos Award, administered by the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) recognises an outstanding contribution to the philosophy of science, widely interpreted, in the form of a book published in English during the previous six years. It has been awarded annually since 1986 and three women have received it.

Figure 5. Distribution of three international awards for philosophy, by gender, 2020

Source: GESS researchers’ calculations, data collected from Kyoto Prizes website, Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences website, and the London School of Economics and Political Sciencewebsite (accessed January 2021).

Notes on methodology

1. All counts were made from publicly available details on official websites.
2. Ambiguous names were checked through internet searching.