Entries for the Women Leading Tech Awards Advocacy category have flatlined.
That’s right, no single company in Australia thought their achievements in advancing gender equity were worthy of an award—or at the very least, shouting about.
The Advocacy category at the Women Leading Tech Awards is open to tech firms that have demonstrated a holistic and long-term commitment to the recruitment, development and retention of women in its business.
For reference, in 2020, the first year of the Awards, five companies entered. In 2021, it climbed to nine, in 2022, it dropped to six but in 2023 it jumped to 11. Last year, however, it dropped to three.
This year, no entries were recorded. Entries overall kept pace with the previous year, despite a tightened market.
Join us on Friday 28 March 2025 at the Hyatt Regency Sydney to reprogram the tech industry for good
So what gives? Surely companies across the land would be keen to celebrate the work that they’ve done in elevating the cause of women in the sector.
Each year, the business sets intentional targets around female and underrepresented gender minority hires. In 2023—the Award’s judging period—the target was 40 per cent. Additionally, the software company embraces talent from diverse backgrounds, as well as returning mothers and technologists re-entering the workforce after caregiving responsibilities.
It created RISE, a development program designed to empower its to deliver extraordinary impact through leadership. This program is open to Thoughtworkers transitioning from being individual contributors to team lead roles. Within the program, group coaching sessions and stories from Thoughtworks leaders allow participants to hear how different people navigate imposter syndrome, for instance.
In addition, Thoughtworks actively uses press and event opportunities to advance gender diversity in tech. At tech conferences such as its own XConf, it strives for diverse representation across panels and speakers. Twelve women technologists delivered talks at the week-long festival that drew more than 400 attendees, including clients and tech community members.
IT solutions business Orro and carsales also entered the category last year.
join us on Friday 28 March 2025 at the Hyatt Regency Sydney to reprogram the tech industry for good
It’s safe to say that things in 2025 have been slightly different. The Trump Administration in the US has gone on an anti-DEI rampage, forcing federal agencies and contracter businesses—including Meta, Google, Accenture and more—to abandon their DEI initiatives. Locally, Meta has said that it will continue to hire diverse teams, but will not be reporting on the precise makeup of those teams.
Accenture’s chief exec, Julie Sweet, said in a memo to staff the company said that it would start “sunsetting” the diversity goals it set in 2017, along with career development programs for “people of specific demographic groups”.
Sweet said Accenture’s policy change followed an “evaluation of our internal policies and practices and the evolving landscape in the United States, including recent executive orders with which we must comply”.
Sweet did caveat the note, saying that all the announcements were subject to local laws and “tailored to the needs of our local markets”.
join us on Friday 28 March 2025 at the Hyatt Regency Sydney to reprogram the tech industry for good
Google, meanwhile, had set a target of increasing the proportion of “leadership representation of underrepresented groups” by 30 per cent by 2025 following the police killing of George Floyd in the US.
However, it said in an email to staff it was evaluating whether it would continue releasing its annual diversity reports as well as DEI-related grants, training and initiatives, including those that the email said “raise risk, or that aren’t as impactful as we’d hoped.”
Fiona Cicconi, the company’s chief people officer, said in the email that the company has “always been committed to creating a workplace where we hire the best people wherever we operate, create an environment where everyone can thrive, and treat everyone fairly. That’s exactly what you can expect to see going forward.”
A global spokesperson for Google told B&T the company was “committed” to ensuring all its “employees can succeed and have equal opportunities”.
Perhaps businesses have been quick to follow the line set by these global behemoths. Or perhaps there’s something more afoot.
Either way, we hope that you join us on Friday 28 March 2025 at the Hyatt Regency Sydney to reprogram the tech industry for good. Voting for the Women Leading Tech People’s Choice Award opened two days ago.
