In response to the WiseTech scandal and the resignation, but retention, of its CEO Richard White, Girl Geek Academy is calling for an urgent redirection of corporate philanthropic and government funds to women-led programs aimed at advancing careers in the technology ecosystem.
The group aims to secure up to $2 million from the State and Federal government to fund its AI program, AI High, and drive safe and inclusive careers in the future of Australia's digital workforce.
"Recent events have seen programs such as the National Computer Science School entirely cut for reasons that could not send a worse signal to young women with an ambition for a career in technology," Lisy Kane, cofounder of Girl Geek Academy said.
"Any smart educated woman would see the current outcome of the Richard White saga as a major deterrent for a career in tech, where the industry folds in on itself to defend his reputation."
Girl Geek Academy has also expressed Australia's technology education system is overly reliant on too few programs and the desperate need for an autonomously organised space for women's tech education.
Kane added: "This scandal has much larger consequences for Australia's ambitions for its technology sector. WiseTech now has much larger issues to work through than supporting the next generation of technology workers. We need to galvanise on this issue and diversify support, or risk seeing Australia's national agenda for its tech industry go backwards."
The call to action comes amid two scandals that have rocked the technology education sector. Earlier in September, James Curran, the head of Grok Academy resigned pending an investigation into harassment against women and high school girls. Both Richard White personally, and WiseTech, have funded and supported Grok Academy. Girl Geek Academy estimates that Grok Academy has received around $13 million in government funding through three separate initiatives.
Following this, White was revealed to be exchanging sex and properties for business advice. The revelations resulted in little backlash from the industry, with White seemingly retaining his salary and influence within the industry.
"We're not calling for the closure of any programs on the back of these findings. Our goal here is diversity more than anything else. We want more education programs for the technology sector, not less," Kane said.
"But this saga underscores the importance of diversifying support across multiple programs, and purposefully funding that are aimed at supporting groups like women in the tech sector. We can't bury our head in the sand and wait for this to blow over. We need to end this boys club mentality running technology education in Australia, and we can't do it without broader support."
Girl Geek Academy ran its last program to receive government support in 2020, ahead of the COVID-19 pandemic. It previously was able to teach 14,000 kids and 1000 teachers how to code, and has over the last 10 years partnered with several major tech companies including MYOB, National Australia Bank, Nintendo, Microsoft, Amazon Web Services, SAP, The US Peace Corp, Asia-Pacific Telecommunity and the Government of Vanuatu.
