While looking through The Record, Kitchener-Waterloo’s local newspaper, I could not help
but stop at a story titled “Amplifying the voice of women in tech”. After
reading a few blog posts regarding issues surrounding diversity in the tech
sector and in particular women in tech this article immediately grabbed my
attention as a possible part of the solution to this issue. The article
discusses a Waterloo based initiative called ‘Code Like a Girl’ started by a
tech executive Dinah Davis who says in the article that their “…whole purpose
is to amplify the voice of women in tech and to get young girls interested in
careers in technology.” (Outhit, 2017)
This initiative is trying to combat the
issue of a male dominated tech sector. It didn’t say the age range of the girls
who participated but the ones that they interviewed were 12 and 14. Obviously
at these ages these girls would not be thinking about the sector that they are
going to work in after they graduate High School and University. So, the
question is, is this initiative actually effective in influencing girls to
become interested in the tech sector at such a young age? I mean, it can't hurt the current situation because it seems like you can only inspire these
young girls to be interested in tech if they aren’t already. I would like to
present this initiative as a responsive solution to the posts that address
females as a minority in the tech sector. Please tell me what your opinions are
on this!
The article
can be found at the following link:
Works
Cited:
Outhit, J. (2017,
March 30). Amplifying the voice of women in tech. The Record.
I came across this article too and it reminded me of the model Karlie Kloss's initiative to encourage young girls to get involved with coding. The initiative is a summer camp called "Kode with Klossy" where preteen girls are taught computer coding. I really do think these types of initiatives are prosperous and help foster a love of technology amount young girls. Rather than teaching them that the tech industry is one for tough, smart boys, it instilled in them a sense of equality and thus creates diversity in the sector should they choose to pursue this realm as a career.
ReplyDeleteI would have to agree with you Bethany! I think that making sure that young girls know that the tech sector is an environment where they are welcome before it is too late is the best way to go about reversing this issue. I still think that more can be done throughout the high school ages, when it is extremely critical that the ideas surrounding equality in the tech industry can be conveyed to girls.
DeleteI also agree that these initiatives are beneficial to the issue of females as minorities in the tech sector because it begins at a young age. Young females are being exposed to the tech industry more than ever before and it may inspire them to follow a path they never knew existed before being exposed to the industry. I definitely think that programs can't do any harm to the current situation, and will only decrease the problems that will arise in the coming decades as these young females grow up and pursue their careers in whatever field they wish.
DeleteI think this is a great response to the problems that have been raised on this blog about females as minorities in the tech industry!
Interesingly enough, computer programming was once dismissed as "women's work"...http://www.history.com/news/human-computers-women-at-nasa
ReplyDeleteVery interesting that you bring this article forward! It really is too bad that this trend diminished over the decades and it is in the state that it currently is in with women as a minority in these positions. Do you have any ideas as to how or why the decline of women in the tech sector happened and/or why it is still an issue? It seems to me that in 2017 a phenomenon about equality like this would be mere myth.
Delete
ReplyDeleteI definitely agree with the article you discuss and with the comments above! Even from a simple google search of other initiatives that seek to tackle this same issue, I found a website that discusses 10 initiatives in addition to ‘Code Like a Girl’ (http://www.hongkiat.com/blog/coding-initiatives-girls-women/). I discussed it in one of my past blog posts, but it is definitely evident that the issue isn’t that there aren’t women in tech, but that there aren’t enough of them, and I think that these initiatives are an effective way to generate a discussion around the topic. The idea that these initiatives can introduce coding and computer science as being interesting and not just for males, could spark a passion and increase the number of future women in tech drastically.
There are so many awesome initiatives out there focusing on women in STEM! Other classmates ones that came to my mine such as Karlie Kloss' "Kode with Klossy" and "Code Like a Girl." Toronto-based entrepreneur, Heather Payne founded HackerYou, a registered Private Career College. She also founded Ladies Learning Code in 2011, which is now a national non-profit that has expanded across Canada AND was named one of of Canada’s Top 100 Most Powerful Women for her work exposing women and girls to programming and technology.
ReplyDeleteThere's another not-for-profit based in San Francisco called Black Girls Code, which focuses on providing technology education for black African-American girls. Some of their programs include STEM education, tech training, diversity learning, and social entrepreneurship. It's great to see these programs, campaigns, and initiatives for empowering females, as the tech sector is very male-dominated, but we tend to see even less representation of women of colour within these fields.
I'm totally agree with the article you discuss and with the comments above! Even from a simple google search of other initiatives that seek to tackle this same issue
ReplyDeletegoldenslot
gclub online