FST Government has been formally honoured for its commitment to gender parity, receiving a Merit Award in Media at the #TechDiversity Awards in Melbourne last Thursday.
 

The Merit Award acknowledges FST’s efforts to ensure gender-equal representation across its 2018 FST Government Victoria speaker line-up.

Nine out of a total of 19 speakers and panellists at this year’s Government Victoria conference (hosted in April this year) were female, including the event’s closing keynote speaker, Taiwan’s Digital Minister Audrey Tang – a renowned tech pioneer and the state’s first openly transgender ministers.

Accepting the award on behalf of the FST team, Simona Zukaite, Head of Production, said FST was proud to deliver on its promise to achieve gender parity at the Victoria event, as well as the company’s longstanding commitment to increasing female representation across its world-leading event line-up.

“After re-evaluating past and current event agendas, it became apparent that the representation of female leaders in IT as speakers and panellists was low,” Zukaite said. “FST Government decided that FST Government Victoria event would be the first event by FST Government Events team to ensure gender parity on panels and with its speaker line-ups.

“Equal representation on our speaker line-ups also translates into our delegate lists, resulting in a more qualified audience that is representative of the entire industry,” Zukaite said.

FST is now in full compliance with the government’s pledge to enforce gender parity across the sector, Zukaite said, giving FST greater leverage to confirm a more diverse array of senior speakers and esteemed female thought leaders for its events.

Moving forward, FST Government has commited to its goal of ensuring equal gender representation on its industry panels and speaker line-ups for all future conferences.

The #TechDiversity Awards, now in their third year, seek “to recognise and honour those individuals and groups who are actively raising awareness and creating change through diversity initiatives and programs.”

Deirdre Diamante, co-founder of the #TechDiversity Foundation, was effusive in her praise of the night’s award winners.

“These organisations are leading lights across Melbourne’s tech industry and their commitment to diversity and inclusion is yielding real results. We couldn’t be prouder to showcase the dedication and incredible work of our deserving winners,” Diamante said.