ADELAIDE, Wed June 25, 2008 - Dell today launched the Women in IT Executive Mentoring phase four (WITEM IV), a cross organisational program aimed at increasing the number of women in ICT leadership roles, in Adelaide.
Phase IV of the program is the first time the initiative has extended to public and private organisations outside NSW and Canberra. The WITEM program was founded by Dell in 2005, in response to a call-to-action from the then Minister for Communications, Information Technology and the Arts.
The latest phase of the program involves senior technology leaders mentoring women IT professionals from the Department for Families and Communities, Department for Education and Children Services, Department of Justice Department of Health, Department for Transport, Energy and Infrastructure, Flinders University and the University of South Australia.
"WITEM IV continues to address a number of barriers to women's advancement such as a lack of general management experience, exclusion from informal networks and stereotypes about women's roles and abilities," said Joe Kremer, vice president and managing director of Dell Australia and New Zealand.
A recent Equal Opportunity for Women in the Workplace Agency (EOWA) report shows that women aged between 16 and 65 remain significantly under utilised and untapped. *
The report, "Generation F: Attract, Engage, Retain," reveals that employers are failing to provide workplaces that enable women to fully participate and fuel the growth in the Australian economy. Two of the five most common reasons for women to leave their previous jobs were a difficulty in progressing (17%) and lack of clear career development (15%). *
"Female representation in all industries, particularly the IT industry continues to decline," Mr Kremer said. "If an organisation under-represents women at senior levels, they are at a disadvantage because they lose a certain point of view. WITEM is aimed at creating more balance in our industry."
All participants in WITEM IV will work closely with Orijen, a mentoring specialist consultancy group, who will facilitate the program to ensure maximum benefit is derived by both mentors and mentees.
South Australian Department for Family and Communities Chief Executive Sue Vardon said offering specialised mentoring in the ICT field was an excellent way to help women progress in the technology industry.
"The Department is very keen to increase women's participation at senior levels and throughout the rest of the workforce and is very pleased to be part of the development program between the Australian Government and Dell," Ms Vardon said.
Since its inception in December 2005, WITEM has engaged mentors from differing senior management roles and from across industries such as IT, finance, distribution, professional services, manufacturing and government.
"We now have thirty five pairs of mentors and mentees who have participated in the program," said Mr Kremer. "This is highly encouraging as we continue to expand to other cities across the country."
BACKGROUND TO WITEM IV | Participating Mentors from Government and Education | | | |
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| Department for Family and Communities | Philip Hogg | Chief Information Officer | |
| Department for Education and Children Services | Kay Nolte | Chief Information Officer | |
| Department of Health | David Johnston | Chief Information Officer | |
| Department of Justice | Spencer Briggs | CIO, Justice Technology Service | |
| Department for Transport, Energy and Infrastructure | John Maunder | Chief Information Officer | |
| Government of South Australia | Andrew Mills | Chief Information Officer | |
| Flinders University of South Australia | Mark Legg | Director, Information Services | |
| University of South Australia | Paul Sherlock | Director Information Strategy & Technology Services | |
Women in IT Statistics Of the 348,200 ICT workers in 2005-06, 85 per cent (295,000) were men. The number of male ICT workers increased by 6 per cent between 2004-05 and 2005-06. In contrast, the number of female ICT workers fell by 8 per cent between 2004-05 and 2005-06 to 53,300. In 2005-06 male ICT workers represented 5 per cent of all employed men, while female ICT workers represented 1 per cent of all employed women.* Of Australia's top 200 ASX Company CEOs, only 3 per cent are women. *About WITEM Phase I: WITEM Phase I, a 12 month pilot launched in December 2005, involved managing directors from Dell, Altiris, Cisco, EMC, Ingram Micro, Intel, LAN Systems and Lexmark, each mentoring a female executive from across marketing, sales, legal counsel and channel management functions from an alternate company.Phase II: Phase II of WITEM involves senior technology leaders - CIO, CTO or IT General Managers - mentoring female technology professionals from Centrelink, Deloitte, Department of Finance and Administration, Ernst & Young, NSW Department of Education and Training,
Westpac and Woolworths. The program launched following the success of WITEM Phase I and represented a move from the IT industry to the wider IT profession, encompassing public and private sectors.Phase III: Canberra - Phase III of WITEM launched in August 2007 and involves 10 Canberra-based, senior technology executives from government and private industry. WITEM III mentors hold titles such as CIO, CTO, Deputy CEO IT, Head of IT and are from the Australian Bureau Statistics, Department Finance and Administration, Australian Taxation Office, Australian National University, Centrelink, Department of Defence, Department of Education, Science and Training, IP Australia and University of Canberra. 
