Communications of the ACM
Opening a Gateway For Girls to Enter the Computer Field
Groups like Girls Who Code, founded last year by Resham Saujani, are part of an effort nationwide to recruit more young people to software development and computer science.
Credit: The New York Times
Several programs are emerging that encourage girls to learn technology skills that will enable them to enter computer science fields. Manhattan-based nonprofit Girls Who Code offers an eight-week program that teaches software programming, public speaking, product development, and other skills geared toward technology industry career preparation. Similar groups include Hackbright Academy, Girl Develop It, Black Girls Code, and Girls Teaching Girls to Code.
Although women account for over half of the total workforce, they claim less than a quarter of computing and technical jobs, according to the National Center for Women and Information Technology. Women represent an even smaller proportion of executive and founder-level professionals. Advocacy and networking groups have attempted to coach women on forming startups and raising venture capital. Despite this, the number of women entering technology fields has decreased, with women now earning 12 percent of computer science degrees, down from 37 percent in 1984.
Groups such as Girls Who Code attempt to intervene at a young age before the gender gap takes hold. Although 74 percent of girls in middle school show interest in engineering, science, and math, by the time they reach college just 0.3 percent choose computer science as a major, notes Girls Who Code founder Reshma Saujani.
From The New York Times
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