Women in Technology, Diverse City Careers combine resources in IT gender equality push

12 Apr Women in Technology, Diverse City Careers combine resources in IT gender equality push

The Women in Technology QLD (WiT) organisation and Diverse City Careers (DCC), a job site for women, have joined forces to combine their efforts on the advancement of women in technology industries.

Fiona Hayes, WiT president says WiT’s vision is to advance, connect and empower women in technology and life sciences and the group is excited about collaborating with DCC to achieve “greater outcomes for both our communities.”

Hayes said addressing the diversity agenda takes the combined efforts of many.

Under the partnership, WiT and DCC say they will be building awareness around gender equality through a number of campaigns, with the next event STEMMed – hosted by WiT in Brisbane on the 29 May. STEMed is a one day festival of education for the future, bringing together experts, advocates, industry, educators, parents and youth.

The day will feature fully interactive workshops for parents and children and sessions including 3D printing, startups, gaming, coding, drone and, robotics.

Founded in 1997 with the support of just 10 women, Hayes says WiT has grown to over 3700 members and affiliates with sponsorship from organisations such as University of Queensland, Origin Energy, Queensland Government, QUT and others.

Hayes said WiT programs are aimed at of all career levels and include mentoring, networking events, coaching, along with a Board Readiness program and an annual Awards gala dinner, and in 2015 WiT reached over 11,500 people through its network and social media and had more than 1600 people attend its events.

Diverse City Careers (DCC) co-founders, Gemma Lloyd and Valeria Ignatieva, started the company after working in IT for over 9 years and served on the board of Females in IT & Telecommunications (FITT), another not-for-profit industry association.

“We experienced many challenges faced by women working in industries under-represented by females,” said Lloyd. “Through volunteering with FITT, we also came across many organisations with a strong focus on diversity and inclusion and decided to create an exclusive platform to promote such organisations.

“It is though our partnerships that we can amplify our efforts to help organisations build more inclusive workplaces and for women to pursue rewarding careers across any industry,” Ignatieva said.

According to Ignatieva, the DCC jobs board is Australia’s only jobs board requiring employers to be pre-qualified before advertising to ensure they support women’s careers.

Ignatieva said since launching in 2015, the company has received tremendous support from the industry and is regarded as “one of Australia’s leading authorities on gender diversity”. Clients include Accenture, Dropbox, Minter Ellison, Aurizon, Clayton Utz, Origin, PwC, EMC, ThoughtWorks and Curtin University.

SOURCE