ACS Celebrates 2022 International Women’s Day

8 March 2022

ACS is marking the 2022 International Women’s Day with a range of #BreakTheBias themed events and initiatives around the country aimed at boosting gender equality within the technology sector.

The 2021 Australian Digital Pulse report, ACS’ annual snapshot of Australia’s digital economy, found Women make-up 29% of employment in the nation’s  tech sector, compared to 47.5% in similar occupations across the professional, scientific and technical services industries.

Increasing female participation in the Australian tech sector could see 5,000 highly skilled jobs created each year for the next 20 years, the 2021 report claimed.

Boosting diversity is the number one item in ACS’ 2022 Election Platform with a $500m proposal for a trainee program aimed at women and groups not well represented in the IT sector. The program would provide employees a subsidy of $20,000 for 5,000 places a year over five years.

The week sees ACS’ flagship publication, Information Age is debuting a new series, 'Women in IT Leadership' on IWD, featuring interviews with fifteen of Australia's top female executives.

Starting the series is an interview with Oracle ANZ Vice President, Cherie Ryan on her rise through a male-dominated technology sales team. Over coming days, Information Age will feature stories on female leaders from top female executives from Google Cloud, AWS, IBM, Cognizant, Seek, Cisco, PwC, Dicker Data, BRM Advisory, Simpology, Rackspace, Mimecast, Tesserent and Thoughtworks.

ACS is also holding the following events:

Tuesday 8 March
ACS Canberra is holding a panel session: Addressing Australia’s ICT Skills Shortage – a Diversity and Inclusion Approach, at the National Portrait Gallery from 7.15am to 9am. 

ACS NSW will be hosting a Rare Birds event at Barangaroo, with a panel event. Expert will discuss what insights can be drawn from COVID and how to create a more inclusive post pandemic recovery. 

Wednesday 9 March
In honour of International Women's Day, River City Labs in Brisbane will be opening its doors to the wider community to use as a workspace for the day. Free coffee and a chance to network with the RCL startup community of founders, partners and mentors from 9 to 10.30am. Details here.

Over lunch, RCL will host International Women’s Day Cocktails & Conversations with Freelancing Gems. A cocktail on arrival and the opportunity to network with powerful women before hearing from women paving their way in their various industries. The event runs from 11.30am to 2pm.

Also today, IAPA – Australia’s only analytics association – celebrates International Women’s Day with a spotlight on over 30 women in analytics in Australia, and support for the women’s scholarship program to study analytics at Kaplan Business School.


Thursday 17 March
ACS NT will host a ​​​​​key note presentation followed by a panel session discussing how women working in digital, technical and ICT professions can build confidence and resilience in an ever-evolving tech landscape. This is a free face-to-face event. Details here.

Thursday 31 March
ACS Victoria is hosting a Diversity and Inclusion breakfast to discuss the effect of the pandemic on women in tech. The event will be facilitated by facilitator Jo Stewart-Rattray, ACS VP of Communities. Jo has over 25 years’ experience in the ICT field and has had an annual award established in her honour to recognise her outstanding leadership and commitment to increasing the representation of women in technology leadership and the tech workforce more broadly. Tickets and details here.

-ENDS-

Further information

Troy Steer
Director of Corporate Affairs and Public Policy
M – 0417 173 740
E – troy.steer@acs.org.au

About ACS

ACS is the professional association for Australia's technology sector. ACS members work across business, education, government, and the community delivering the digital services essential to the nation’s prosperity and security.

ACS exists to create the environment and provide the opportunities for members and partners to succeed. ACS strives for technology professionals to be recognised as drivers of innovation in our society, and to promote the formulation of effective policies on technology and related matters. Visit www.acs.org.au for more information.