In case you missed it, yesterday we celebrated International Women’s Day in Sydney with hundreds of women and men in the room together at the Fullerton Hotel and thousands of you online.
This years theme was #crackthecode: Innovation for a gender equal future as set by UN women. It’s something that resonated so deeply with me. After all, I come from a non tech background and ended up being a tech entrepreneur.
We have a great need to get more women into technology and innovation - it's an evolutionary imperative. But it's not just in these areas, broader STEM - which should be renamed if you ask me to STEM-EL to include entrepreneurship and leadership, needs attention. Both for the women in work today and those who are to come in future generations. It’s why on top of working with professional women and ambitious organizations who want to invest in their diverse pipeline of talent, we give back, by educating girls and boys on financial literacy, leadership and entrepreneurship.
My message this International Women’s Day was also one of simplification. Cracking the code to innovation and equality doesn’t need to be mystical. In fact it's not up to us women to crack the code at all, for it has already been cracked:
Pay us more
Hire more women
Promote more women
Mentor and sponsor more women
And invest in more women
There you have it!
We’ll be sharing some photos of our IWD celebrations across our social media today and early next week. Check out Instagram and Linkedin to spot yourself or your team!
Before you go, in supporting the growth of women in STEM (-EL, ahem!), we’re supporting the Australian Governments Review of Diversity in STEM. You can share your story and contribute to its review by heading to their website. Every story makes a difference in understanding the challenges and opportunities for women in this space, and creating tangible solutions for our future.