Laura Petrucelli, Director of People, APAC at Contino 

“Despite the progress the technology environment has made over the past years, it continues to be very male-dominated, with women seldom getting a voice in the space. While innovation has the power to transform lives, we know that there are still many barriers to equality. Ensuring inclusive practices are in place through recruitment, onboarding, assessment and promotions are all a core part of leadership development – building the assessment criteria on attributes rather than experiences.  

Representation and participation within a workforce matters. This is also why a comprehensive action plan that targets transparency on performance is crucial – setting up the expectation through leadership KPI that is linked to diversity and inclusivity.   

As a community, we must focus on building a future that supports and sponsors the next generation. For example, with a fast-track program for women in leadership, to re-write the stories we tell our children, highlighting the diverse backgrounds and genders as the hero in our stories – normalising different career paths rather than gender norms. If we’re sincere about the desire to bring a gender balance, more needs to be done to increase the number of women in the industry for consideration. 

Wendy Komadina Head of Channel APJC, Cloudflare

“Interestingly when we think about jobs in tech, our first thought is roles such as software engineering or programming, but what is often overlooked is the wide array of positions across the sector contributing to a company’s success.   

Let’s focus on women in the tech sector, who can contribute immensely in terms of leadership, strategic experience, sales excellence, negotiating power, public relations, marketing and business culture. In all these functions women are achieving success and they have deep competency in how to operate in the tech sector, but they are not technical. But are we actually moving the needle for gender equality in technology? I don’t think we are moving as fast as we need to.  

Grassroot programs targeting talent of the future in universities and coding schools are effective in increasing the number of young women. Areas where we can increase focus to attract experienced women into the tech sector, are looking at adjacent sectors where women have strong strategic, sales, operational and consulting skills. For example, we still see women grossly under-represented in enterprise sales roles in tech companies.  

When women are given the opportunity to take on these roles, they quickly develop the skills and competencies needed to deliver impactful solutions for customers, work collaboratively with engineers or even take the leap to move into a technical role themselves. This is definitely a career pathway that I am seeing become more accessible for women joining from other sectors.   

Advice I would give women looking to break into the tech industry is to broaden your professional network so that you become visible, build your own professional brand by contributing to thought leadership discussions, and have data and facts ready to share that allow you to influence thinking.” 

Andreea Parvu Delivery Location Manager, Endava   

“While the tech industry faces the challenges of talent shortages, by empowering women to enter the field we can aim to bridge that gap. This can be brought to life during the recruitment stages but also in retaining and progressing talent with tailored growth plans. With digital transformation top of mind for most industries, technical roles are seeing huge demand. To help change the perspective of these roles only being suited to males, organisations should be intentional in the way they undertake initiatives by using inclusive language and ensuring a balance of genders on the shortlist.  

“The time is now to better invest in education and training aimed at women to support them into in-demand roles. Personally, I really benefitted from mentorship where I gained knowledge from experienced leaders in the sector but there also needs to be robust Diversity and Inclusion programs designed for women. Locally, across most tech industries in Australia, we’re lagging behind the likes of Central Europe where Endava for example has achieved gender parity across our organisation. It was a noticeable difference I recognised when I first relocated and it’s going to be a mission of mine to balance out. 

“Driving cultural change is what makes a company truly healthy, and this includes having the right frameworks to support women to overcome the systemic challenges experienced in STEM. To any woman considering entering tech and feeling unsure, my advice would be to become your own role model. I’ve been very lucky to have discovered my own potential with the help of the extraordinary people around me that have motivated and inspired me to step into my career pathway. Your voice is your best asset, and no more can we allow ourselves to be silenced in acceptance of the status quo.” 

Nicole Pearce, Regional Sales Manager, at ThoughtSpot

• On the tech industry: 

“Being a woman in sales in the tech industry, I still see a void and under-representation of women in sales. Companies say that women currently account for just 29% of those employed in technology in Australia, compared to 47.5% in similar jobs in the professional, scientific, and technical services industry and this is across the sector, not specifically sales. According to a 2019 study only 16% of Sales managers in Tech (including SaaS) are women. This is well below the industry average of 26% across industries. 

“The behavioural patterns for top producing salespeople are gender neutral. Both men and women can be top producers. I'd go even further to say that the behavioural traits that come easier to women than to some men mean a distinct advantage for tech companies that want a competitive edge: empathy, interpersonal relationships and social responsibility. We know that there are a number of ways to accelerate change; hiring (job descriptions, going wider than your first connection networks, involving women in the hiring process), equal compensation, giving opportunities for mentorship, peer support and coaching, and probably most importantly, changing the definition or stereotype of what makes a good salesperson or sales leader. While sales is hard and not for the faint hearted, it is so incredibly rewarding.” 

• On great advice:  

“If I truly want something, there is nothing that can stand in my way to accomplish it. 

“My dad, who told me I could do and be anything I wanted without restrictions or barriers. That if I set a goal, then it was up to me to achieve it. There was no talk of gender, being 'lesser' because I was a female. Everyone was equal and he believed that I could accomplish anything if I worked hard and committed to my goals. 

“My mum, who told me that the power of my mind is an untapped source of power. She would say 'whatever I can perceive and believe I can achieve' (probably not as poetically as the way Napoleon Hill said it, but the message was the same). I can change the outcome of my day if I can change my attitude (for better or for worse), I can accomplish anything if I have the right mindset. This was really what we call mindfulness but back in the late '70's, early '80's (I'm showing my age), we didn't have the word for it. The power of my mind to overcome adversity and challenges has been a foundation that has served me incredibly well over my journey.”