At AGL, we fundamentally believe that more diverse teams lead to better outcomes – for our people, customers, community and business.

So we have a real issue then, when we consider women make up 46% of the Australian workforce, but only 28% of roles in technology (Australian Bureau of Statistics).

According to the Office of the Chief Scientist, Australia loses female talent at every stage of the pipeline – from primary and secondary school to university and the workforce.

To achieve gender balance, we must educate, encourage and support women from a young age about the opportunities that exist in fields like STEM.

Programs like Code Camp and Robogals are important in giving kids the opportunity to get hands on with STEM and build important skills for the future. Last year my 11-year-old daughter learned how to complete a STEM experiment on YouTube – we need to encourage this curiosity and problem solving.

It’s also really important for women to see role models in the workplace so they understand what opportunities are available to them. After all, ‘you can’t be what you can’t see’. It’s one of the reasons why AGL has a long-term commitment to increasing the number of women in our senior leadership pipeline to 50% by 30 June 2022.

I’m very proud of the work we’ve done at AGL to attract fantastic female talent, particularly over the last three years. We’ve shifted the percentage of women in technology roles in our senior leadership pipeline from about 18% to nearly 40%. We’re having better conversations and making more informed choices.

I was honoured to take on the role of Executive Sponsor of AGL’s Equality network late last year – a group of volunteer employees – women and men – advocating for gender equality, helping to connect and empower women to achieve their goals.

We all need to champion for change because equality is needed and equality for the benefit of all.