Women's Directorate Hall of Fame - Women's Directorate

Hall of Fame

Left to right are Judy Gingell, Louise Hardy, Ione Christensen, Kathy Watson and Pat Duncan.
Photo credit: Aasman Design

For a period of time in 2000, the Yukon was led almost entirely by women: Judy Gingell as Commissioner, Louise Hardy as the Member of Parliament, Ione Christensen as the Senator, Kathy Watson as Mayor and Pat Duncan as Premier. These women occupied five of the six senior political posts in the Yukon. The exception was the position of Grand Chief of the Council of Yukon First Nations.

From pre-contact days when the various First Nations of the North lived and traded among themselves, through the feverish years of the Gold Rush, to the birth of a formalized political process, the Yukon's women have built businesses, mined, taught, raised children, gone into politics... in short, they helped shape the territory we know today.

To honour these women, and to understand the importance of their contributions both past and present, the Women's Directorate of the Government of Yukon has set up this Yukon Women's Hall of Fame. In it you will find the names and pictures of those women who have won or been nominated for Yukon Women's Awards, between 1990 and 1999. Also included are the names of those women artists whose works of art were presented as awards.

As well, we have included the names of all the women who have been nominated for an award over the years, plus those women who have come to our attention from various other sources.