Key Takeaways
- • Australia's first gender equity benchmark for technology, the T-EDI Standards Impact Report, published by Project F and the Tech Council of Australia, reveals that most participating employers already have flexible work, parental leave, defined salary ranges, and executive diversity strategies in place.
- • Women comprise 49% of Australia's total workforce but only 20% of the highly technical workforce, and female attrition from technical roles after age 40 occurs at nearly twice the rate of male counterparts, creating a critical retention challenge for industry expansion.
- • Within 18 months of the benchmark's 2024 launch, half of participating organizations have made progress on their action plans; however, systemic changes in pay transparency, leadership accountability, and work design are expected to require years to fully implement.
- • Australia has set a target of 1.2 million tech workers by 2030, making the retention and advancement of experienced women in technical roles essential to meeting this workforce goal, according to Tech Council of Australia CEO Kate Cornick.
- • The report identifies specific gaps requiring further action: part-time role redesign, explicit gender balance targets, and pay range transparency with candidates, signaling that current measures are necessary but insufficient for sustained gender equity progress.
Summary
Australia has launched its first common gender equity benchmark for the technology sector, establishing a standardized framework for assessing and tracking workplace practices across technical employers. The T-EDI Standards Impact Report, published jointly by Project F and the Tech Council of Australia, provides baseline findings on gender equity measures currently deployed by participating organizations in business, universities, and government agencies.
The inaugural report documents that most employers have already implemented several foundational practices supporting women in technical roles, including flexible work arrangements, parental leave policies, defined salary ranges, and executive-level diversity initiatives. However, the analysis reveals a significant gap between entry-level support and long-term career sustainability. The report emphasizes that retention of experienced women in technical positions requires more comprehensive interventions, including the redesign of technical roles to accommodate part-time work, the establishment of specific gender balance targets, and proactive pay range transparency communicated to candidates.
The benchmark's findings are situated within a broader labor market imbalance. Women represent 49% of Australia's overall workforce but constitute only 20% of the highly technical workforce. More critically, women exit technical careers at nearly double the rate of men after age 40, creating a compounding loss of institutional knowledge and experienced talent. This attrition pattern undermines organizational efficiency through elevated recruitment and training costs and productivity losses during unfilled positions.
Since the benchmark's launch in 2024, progress has been mixed. Approximately half of participating organizations have advanced their action plans within the 18-month timeframe. The report acknowledges that substantive organizational change—particularly in pay transparency, leadership accountability structures, and work design—typically requires multi-year implementation cycles. Kate Cornick, Chief Executive Officer of the Tech Council of Australia, contextualized the benchmark within the nation's broader workforce objectives: Australia aims to reach 1.2 million tech workers by 2030, making the attraction and retention of experienced women in technical roles strategically essential to achieving that capacity target.
The inaugural report documents that most employers have already implemented several foundational practices supporting women in technical roles, including flexible work arrangements, parental leave policies, defined salary ranges, and executive-level diversity initiatives. However, the analysis reveals a significant gap between entry-level support and long-term career sustainability. The report emphasizes that retention of experienced women in technical positions requires more comprehensive interventions, including the redesign of technical roles to accommodate part-time work, the establishment of specific gender balance targets, and proactive pay range transparency communicated to candidates.
The benchmark's findings are situated within a broader labor market imbalance. Women represent 49% of Australia's overall workforce but constitute only 20% of the highly technical workforce. More critically, women exit technical careers at nearly double the rate of men after age 40, creating a compounding loss of institutional knowledge and experienced talent. This attrition pattern undermines organizational efficiency through elevated recruitment and training costs and productivity losses during unfilled positions.
Since the benchmark's launch in 2024, progress has been mixed. Approximately half of participating organizations have advanced their action plans within the 18-month timeframe. The report acknowledges that substantive organizational change—particularly in pay transparency, leadership accountability structures, and work design—typically requires multi-year implementation cycles. Kate Cornick, Chief Executive Officer of the Tech Council of Australia, contextualized the benchmark within the nation's broader workforce objectives: Australia aims to reach 1.2 million tech workers by 2030, making the attraction and retention of experienced women in technical roles strategically essential to achieving that capacity target.
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