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InnovationAus

Politics

James Riley

Australia’s leading women in technology

Kate Pounder Australia STEM CSIRO Optus Adobe Australian Government AWS Canva Silicon Quantum Computing

Technology Council of Australia chief executive Kate Pounder says there are long-term structural issues keeping the number of women in technical roles in the sector frustratingly low and outside of societal expectations.

In an interview with InnovationAus.com ahead of International Women’s Day, Ms Pounder welcomed the federal government’s Pathway to STEM Diversity Review and is keen to outline the systemic obstacles that are limiting the pipeline of STEM women through the education system.

Tech Council chief executive Kate Pounder

But before any of that, she wants to name-check the quite remarkable list of women in leadership roles in technology in Australia, partly because its International Women’s Day, but mainly because the list is genuinely incredible. It is worth reflecting on.

After I texted with an interview request, Kate started throwing out some names with people in her office, spit-balling about the women in leadership positions in the tech sector.

The Australian Government chief scientist, the Defence chief scientist, the CSIRO chief scientist, Google managing director and VP, Salesforce regional VP, AWS managing director, Canva CEO, Adobe managing director, Telstra CEO, Optus CEO, Silicon Quantum Computing CEO – all positions held by women (There are many others on the list below, and still many more not listed.)

And, of course, Kate Pounder herself is the CEO of the Tech Council, and the chair of the Tech Council board is Robyn Denholm, who also happens to be the global chair at Tesla.

“We have not quite fully realised that in some ways we have made more progress, probably, than we think,” Ms Pounder said. “It is actually quite incredible how it has changed over the last five years.”

So that’s worth reflecting on, she says, before moving directly to the structural issues that continue to stymie opportunities for girls, and for women.

Firstly, Ms Pounder says government is right to put the pathways to STEM diversity under review, and says the Minister Ed Husic could not have appointed a better placed panel to conduct the review.

“If you look at the calibre of people like [Cicada Innovations CEO] Sally Ann Williams or [Indigital CEO] Mikaela Jade, they are people who’ve had long careers and varied careers in the industry.

“So, I welcome the fact that such a high-powered panel has been given this role to review those programs,” she said.

“The challenge is that there are systemic issues, still. That from a young age we are seeing girls diverted from STEM subjects at school, and that diversion – looking at all the data – is entrenched as you go through the school system.

“That then translates into under representation of women in training courses, and therefore to smaller pools of women who are looking for tech jobs and opportunities,” Ms Pounder said.

“I think doing the review of the programs is useful to understand why we are still – in the 21st century – those kinds of [poor] numbers. Because it makes no sense. It is not like women are intrinsically less able to do STEM subjects.

“We have to genuinely unpack what is causing that, and then what modes of intervention would make the biggest difference to address it.”

In technical jobs in the tech sector, women make up about 25 per cent of the workforce in this country. While this number can vary across certain companies or certain parts of the industry, 25 per cent is the rough average.

For non-technical roles across the technology companies, women fill more than half the roles. But “it is the [under] representation in STEM roles that is the problem here.”

The bigger problem is that if you look back through the pipeline, that number is fairly consistent. Meaning that if you look at the number of women enrolling in undergraduate ICT courses the figure is about the same, and the figure is the same if you look back into the school system, Ms Pounder said.

“That’s why I think there has been a systemic deterrence that’s been occurring,” she said. “And if you don’t address that at the source, it obviously means you just reduce the number of women who are training for those or seeking to find those roles over their life.”

Ms Pounder says the significant challenges will warrant multiple interventions. Looking at the way girls are treated through the school system is one.

But she says that it is important that the review look at the impact of these structural effects over years, which “has meant there’s whole generations of women who are amazingly talented, who may not have been given the full opportunity to develop that talent or to get those opportunities.”

The review might also look at programs or strategies that give these women a “second chance”, whether its support as founders, or through reskilling programs so they are able to come back into the sector.

Finally, on International Women’s Day, I ask Kate Pounder who are her heroes, the women she admires for their achievements. There are a lot.

“Obviously Robin Denholm, who is my chair. She is someone I know personally, who I think has had the most incredible career, starting out in the car industry, and then moving into tech in the 90s,”Ms Pounder said. “She had the bravery to go to Silicon Valley and build a career there when that was still unusual.”

Robyn Denholm built a “phenomenal global career” in Silicon Valley and is now giving back through roles at Blackbird and the Tech Council – in addition to Tesla. That’s inspirational.

“Also on my board, people like Kate Jones and Mina [Radhakrishnan] are both amazing in different ways. Kate Jones being the first climate change minister in this country and former education and innovation minister. She’s now made that move into tech. And for Mina, to migrate to a new country and to found a successful startup company [:Different] is no mean feat either,” she said.

“And then, outside of that, I’m a huge fan of Cathy Foley and Bronwyn Fox, the National Chief Scientist and the chief scientist at CSIRO I think they do really incredible work. Then there are people like Mel Silva [Google] and Pip Marlow [Salesforce], not to mention Vicki Brady [Telstra] and Kelly Bayer Rosmarin [Optus], and Kendra Banks at Seek.

“It’s pretty amazing to see so many large tech companies, domestic and international, headed by women in Australia.”

The list of women leaders sent over by Kate Pounder and published below is far from complete, but does paint a pretty good picture of tech in this country.

On indulgence, I will add one name: Corrie McLeod is the CEO and publisher of InnovationAus.com, and a fearless leader in everything she does whether at work or at home.