Westpac Women in Technology

As one of Australia’s largest employers we’re proud of the diversity of our people and understand the performance benefits of a culturally diverse population. We are committed to embedding gender equality and supporting Women in Technology. Over 2022 our Women in Technology teams dedicated their time to support women through there development, uplift their capability and create a supportive culture. This was established through 3 core programs such as Take the Leap, Rising Women and Data Gals.

1. Take The Leap – a program launched to help facilitate the transition into technology, this program helps empower women to be a part of the digital landscape through reskilling to a career in Tech. With a focus on transferrable skills, Women in Technology partnered with Microsoft to invest in our Westpac women and take the leap together. Through a tailored program to support their journey into Tech, we had over 700 people attend across 13 events focused on Cybersecurity, Data and the Cloud; equipping individuals with the skills to be successful and championing them to have courage to take the leap.
2. Rising Women Sponsorship Program – is a 9-month sponsorship program designed to support high potential female talent to accelerate their development into leadership roles. With a focus on sponsorship and leadership development, each female participant worked with an influential senior sponsor who advocated for their career progression, used their connections to help increase the participants networks and provided them with an opportunity to work on high visibility projects to gain the confidence required to succeed. We’ve had outstanding results with women feeling more confident and equipped to progress in their career, and some moving into more senior roles at the end of the program.
3. Data Gals – Data. Gals is a dedicated community running events with passionate and data inspired people to come together and workshop solutions on how to use data and technology for good. The team also runs hackathons and debates exploring the complexity on the exceeding use of data with topics such as “Data has taken the human out of human behaviour”. Data Gals has fostered a great community of like-minded people and continues to uplift awareness on data within the bank and supports women in technology. The Women in Technology programs have proven to be such a success for Westpac in 2022 and is evident by the high volume of participation, career development and positive feedback received. In 2023, Westpac will continue to support the Women in Technology programs focusing on career development, capability, and embedding the supportive culture.