The change.org petition, started by University of Tasmania (UTAS) Women's Collective, has garnered more than 1000 signatures in two days, signalling mass disapproval at the election of James Ritchie as representative for women.
The decision was made at the University's by-election in March, but the petition states Ritchie's election was "unconstituional and unethical," pointing to the Anti-Discrimination Act 1998 and its assertion that discrimination can happen on the basis of gender for roles such as women's officer.
"In what have historically been male-dominated institutions, with a persistently patriarchal culture, it is important that women’s rights, needs, interests and concerns in the university context are voiced through someone elected to directly represent them," the petition reads.
In an interview with the ABC, the current Anti-Discrimination Officer Robin Banks says that was not true.
"There isn't a current exemption in place and it means that it's a matter for the electorate, in this case the students of UTAS, to determine who they elect to that role," she told the ABC.
However, she said a man was not perhaps the most representative candidate for women.
"Where we have students from a range of cultural backgrounds there may be women students who may not speak to a man about issues that they face on campus to do with their gender," she said.
"It would be pretty odd for men to think that they could be well represented by a woman if there was a men's role."
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