026/05
1 April 2005

Planning begins for women's ICT summit

The Minister for Communications, Information Technology and the Arts,
Senator Helen Coonan, yesterday chaired the first meeting of the Women in ICT Summit Advisory Group in Sydney.

The group was set up in early March to plan a national summit to encourage more women to study and work in the Information and Communications Technology sector.

"While the role of the sector clearly plays a vital role in the Australian economy, research by the Australian Bureau of Statistics shows that women comprise only about one fifth of the ICT workforce," Senator Coonan said after the meeting in Sydney.

"The competitiveness of any sector of our economy requires that the talents of the whole workforce are harnessed, regardless of gender."

The Advisory Group, made up of prominent Australian women from the ICT and education sectors, discussed the key themes for the summit, its format and potential speakers.

The group received briefings from three representatives of the ICT sector-Liisa von Hellens, Associate Professor at Griffith University and a member of the Advisory Group; Edward Mandla, National President of the Australian Computer Society; and Michel Hedley, National ICT Workforce Policy Manager for the Australian Information Industry Association.

Other members of the Advisory Group are Fiona Balfour, Sonja Bernhardt,
Lyndsey Cattermole, Joan Cooper, Megan Cornelius, Penny Coulter, Sheryle Moon, Rathika Suresh and Beth Warren.

"One of the key themes to emerge from yesterday's meeting was the need to take an innovative approach to encouraging more women into the sector and to look at how we define an ICT career," Senator Coonan said.

"The ICT industry needs to look at how it is perceived, not just by young women looking to pursue a career, but by their parents, teachers and their peer group.

"I am confident that the Advisory Group will provide passionate leadership on this issue and that we will achieve some good outcomes for encouraging more women into the ICT sector from the Summit.

"Planning is on track for the event to be held in late August or early September this year."