AWISE » Questions

Joining AWISE
Purpose of AWISE
Why do boards need IT skills?
Why do we need more girls in technology?

Joining AWISE

How do I join awise?
AWISE is an invitation only group - however if your industry group/association/area of activity is active in the area of programs and projects aimed at encouraging more females in ICT studies and/or careers please contact us on communicate@awise.org.au

Can I as an individual join/be invited to join AWISE?
Membership of AWISE consists of nominated representatives from member groups and educational institutions. As an individual you are welcome to join any or all of the existing groups/networks in each state/territory and become actively involved. However membership of AWISE is based on groups/networks and program involvement.
We can help put you in touch with the appropriate local group to join via our ICT netowrks section of this web site.

Why Join AWISE
If your group is actively involved in programs designed to encourage females into ICT studies and work then we are sure you will agree that a national body linking the multitude of hard working autonomous groups is overdue and a wise innovation.

Purpose of AWISE

What does AWISE do?
AWISE is a national communications umbrella that forms a collaborative voice connecting ICT networks for women.
A major goal of AWISE is to run collaborative programs/projects across the nation.

How did AWISE start?
Since late 2000 industry bodies and groups actively involved in encouraging females into ICT studies and work have been working through ways to maximise the efforts of all groups.
A working model was agreed in late May 2005 and became AWISE.

Why do boards need IT skills?

Can women with IT skills really help boards?
It's not rocket science. We draw the conclusion that to enhance the ability to
succeed in the 21st century, IT skills belong on the boards of companies
alongside traditional financial, legal and general management skills.
The facts are:
(a) there is strong evidence that indicates that diversity (specifically
appointment of women) enhances board performance;
(b) we are in a fast paced society where technology is an underlying
infrastructure across many businesses and boards need to pay attention to
IT governance; and
(c) there is already an “invisible” pool of talented women with IT skills
suitable for appointment to boards: recruitment strategies just need to source these women to amplify the impacts and enhance board diversity and performance.

Why do we need more girls in technology?

Why does it matter?
A key reason why IT is important is because Information Technology is not just having a huge impact on the global economy; it's also affecting our social, economic, and civil institutions. We don't have hundreds of years to figure things out: innovation and obsolescence happen at lightspeed, and IT can literally change the world overnight.

It changes who can compete in the global economy, it changes the nature of advocacy, it forces us to deal with privacy and piracy, it facilitates multi-national corporations, it allows communities to form with no proximity between members, it can reshape education and democracy … and on and on.

The chief reason to work towards encouraging girls’ interest in technology is to bring to the table diversity of thinking. It is well acknowledged that females bring a different perspective to issues than males do. If more females were involved in designing and creating technology we may see a world with different designs, and one that takes into account an inclusive set of perspectives. We may even see technology that is simpler to use and more attractive.

Researchers and educators know that technology is socially constructed. In other words, technology does not exist devoid of its creators' prejudices, biases, cultural assumptions, etc. When men design and build toys and then have other men test them, it should not be surprising that the common experiences of those men get imbibed in the technology.

The trick is not to design a separate interface. The goal is to incorporate a wide variety of perspectives into the design and creation of a system, to create a system that people can repurpose to meet their needs. The goal is to encourage flexibility of expression, to not project a limited perspective into the technology. Designers must take into consideration the vast array of potential users, experiences, expectations, not simply their own. This is why we need more girls in IT; so that we get more inclusive deigns. The facts are that technology designed without female input can be critically one dimensional.

- Lucy Sanders, NCWIT CEO and Co-founder said: "We'll never know what we're missing without more women participating in information technology. We can't measure absence."

Declining numbers of females in ICT is not just a gender issue: it is ultimately an issue about 3 key areas 1) economics and wealth, 2) skills and 3) participation in society.

Skilling our future generations to be able to fully participate in the knowledge/information era, where they are able to live, work and play using appropriate technology, ought to result in a more inclusive, robust and economically thriving future.

It’s about making an informed decision for their future - even if the girls decide that a career involving technology is not for them, they will at least have made an informed decision.

AWISE Australian women in I.T. science entity

AWISE » Questions

Joining AWISE

Purpose of AWISE

Why do boards need IT skills?

Why do we need more girls in technology?