There's been much talk about the need for more women in leadership roles, the possibility of formal quotas to guarantee equal representation for women in top political and business echelons, and the need to teach women the skills they need to succeed up top while they are still little girls.
Although women comprise 45.9 per cent of all employees in Australia, according to the Workplace Gender Equality Agency, they account for less less than 20 per cent of the Australian ICT workforce. The lack of female representation at senior levels is even greater, according to professional services firm Deloitte.
Reason to celebrate... companies are reporting good results from their gender diversity policies.
Some companies want to redress the imbalance. For example, Westpac has set an aspirational target of 50 per cent female representation within leadership roles by 2017.
Here IT Pro continues the conversation about legislated female quotas and the need to attract more schoolgirls into technology careers with a look at gender diversity policies that are working for companies employing women both in technology and other leadership roles and with tips on how to avoid it all going pear shaped.
If you want to see more talented women in technology and leadership roles, it’s essential that senior male leaders champion change, says Dayle Stevens, NAB head of enterprise application and data services, technology.
"As the majority of senior roles in technology are held by men, the sponsorship and support of senior leaders is key."
Role models are also important, says Stevens. "Examples set by senior leaders can inspire positive change and help [women] see that maintaining [work/life] balance is possible."
Just make sure middle management is also aligned with the same values, says Ros Harvey, founding director of Sense-T at the University of Tasmania, and a veteran of corporate responsibility and labour standards for agencies of the World Bank.
Where you recruit from is important, says Harvey. "Don't just recruit through technical trade channels as they are mainly male dominated. Recruit wider and go through channels that reach women."
NAB, Westpac, and global software consulting company ThoughtWorks aim to hire equal numbers of men and women in their graduate programs.
Lindy Stephens, director of social impact at ThoughtWorks, says companies need to set recruitment targets because "good intentions don't work".
"The minute we had quotas for recruiters, the situation changed overnight. Having quotas doesn't mean we hire women without merit. Women with merit are out there, but we have to find them."
The percentage of women employed in ThoughtWorks Australia increased from 19 per cent to 40 percent since 2011. Similarly, NAB aims at hiring equal numbers of men and women in its graduate programs. As of September 2013, 47 per cent of the graduates who accepted positions in the bank's 2014 graduate program were women.
In 2010, the bank also set a target to raise the proportion of women on its Group subsidiary board from 14 per cent to 38 percent by the end of 2013, at September women accounted for 30 per cent of executive management.
While some organisations find formal targets help get more women into the business, and then into leadership positions, others see it as an undeserving advantage.
One man who runs a public relations company says he is angry that there should be "a special elevator to the top jobs just for people in skirts". The man who asked to remain anonymous, says women should be promoted on merit, just like men.
Google doesn’t have formal targets. "It's more about how to build a healthy team," says Mary Selby, engineering manager at Google in Sydney. "We encourage women in other ways."
But why not have targets, or even legislated quotas, if decades of other methods haven't worked, asks Harvey.
"It's the definition of insanity – to keep doing the same thing and expect different results. Quotas work and they set a hard metric. We already have quotas in Parliament. We can extend these concepts to gender."
She says quotas are dangerous when no effort is made to find talented women and a role is handed to someone who is not qualified.
Programs where women can develop their knowledge and skills in the workplace, and address any weaknesses when competing in a male environment is proving a good policy for Google and others.
"The key is building confidence in women," says Selby.
Cisco has a future leaders program where high potential women are groomed to take on senior roles. Two recent participants have been promoted to sales directors.
ThoughtWorks has a Women In Leadership Development program, which helps women set high goals and visions, and discusses what could be holding them back, such as lack of confidence, or experience in negotiating salaries.
But it's pointless having gender policies if relationships aren't strong enough within a team, says Martine Harkin, facilitator at Leading Teams, which runs leadership development and training courses.
"Men have to be involved in the conversation. It's not just women who have to do something about [gender imbalance]. You have the best results when the whole team is engaged, and you can all discuss the consequences of not having women leaders."
Many organisations, such as ThoughtWorks, match mentors with people on similar career paths for advice and guidance. "It's important to pick the right mentor," says Harkin.
Cisco has a shadowing program. "If a woman wants to be the next CIO then she will follow the CIO around," says head of human resources Danielle Weese.
Cisco allows flexible working hours and employees can work from home if needed. Both men and women can schedule their hours around, say, dropping off the kids at school, says Weese, who recently spent three months working in Canada while looking after her sick mother.
Parental leave at full pay - ThoughtWorks offers 18 weeks for the primary carer and two weeks for the secondary - part-time and job-sharing roles are also policies that are begining to make a difference, even if the company has had to work hard to convince some clients their consultants do not need to work full-time.