Parlour was initiated as part of the Australian Research Council-funded research project Equity and Diversity in the Australian Architecture Profession: Women, Work, and Leadership. It brings together research, informed opinion and resources on women, equity and architecture in Australia. It seeks to expand the spaces and opportunities available to women while also revealing the many women who already contribute in diverse ways. As activists and advocates they aim to generate debate and discussion. As researchers and scholars they provide serious analysis and a firm evidence base for change. As women active in Australian architecture they seek to open up opportunities and broaden definitions of what architectural activity might be.

Parlour is now an Incorporated Association which aims to promote gender equity in architecture, develop advocacy programs and resources based in independent, rigorous research, provide a vital space for the discussion of gender equity in architecture and publish informed opinion and generate debate and discussion, develop and strengthen networks and communities of interest around the issue of gender equity in Australian architecture, celebrate women active in the architecture profession, and to provide opportunity and profile for the many women working successfully in architecture.