Spotlight on Women and Girls in Science

This Monday was the International Day of Women and Girls in Science, and there is a lot to celebrate—and discuss—now and every day. At a time when less than 30 percent of researchers worldwide are women and girls and women still face biases, stereotypes, and barriers to entry both in education and in careers in science; we have a long way to go—but progress is being made, and has always been made, by determined girls and women.

Here are a few articles that captured our attention as we celebrate the intelligence, curiosity, and drive of girls and women; explore progress being made and issues that affect women and girls in science, and look at the contributions women have made in science throughout history.

7 Women Inspiring Twitter on the International Day of Women and Girls in Science, from Mashable—Twitter celebrated women scientists on the International Day of Women and Girls in Science with the hashtag #WomenInScience. Mashable shares the stories of seven remarkable women scientists.

Want to Be a Woman in Science? Here Is Advice From Those Who’ve Gone Before, from iAfrica—“Science can be like a family ... Surround yourself with excellence. This is especially important for women. Don’t underestimate yourself, aim high and be around people and colleagues who intellectually challenge you.”

Is This the Year of Women in Science?, from Forbes—Science educator Melanie Fine explores the limits in making any one year the “year of” women in science—and looks optimistically to continued gains for all women in scientific fields: “With the numbers of women entering scientific fields growing each year, there are now more women than men enrolled in the U.S. in both science-related bachelors and graduate degree programs. We should expect to see these numbers rise in the near future.”

This Is Why I’ve Written 500 Biographies of Female Scientists on Wikipedia, from The Independent—Jess Wade, a British physicist, discusses the importance of representation and her journey improving the representation of women scientists and engineers on: “The lack of diversity in science is more than just unfair – it impacts the science we do and the systems we create.”

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Holiday Gifts for the STEM Girl in Your Life

It's always a great time to encourage and nurture a love for science, technology, and math for girls—and the holidays are a perfect time to find gifts that inspire the young scientist in your life to discover, play, create, code, build, and explore their world. Click through for a fascinating (and fun!) selection of STEM gifts.

By Nitasha Syed

You know holiday season is here when your overnight delivery game goes up 10 notches and you see the words BOGO wherever you go. Gift buying is not an easy process so here is a go-to list of items that are perfect to inspire young girls in your life to take interest in math and science!

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Here Are the Black Women in Gaming to Look Out For

Black women have been emerging as leaders in many technology-based fields, but the gaming industry remains very one-sided, with women and minority groups still underrepresented both within games and as creators. However, talented women of color are making their mark, and the opportunity to broaden the representation in gaming—benefiting everyone—has never been greater. The blog Black Girl Nerds profiled several black women making their mark as leaders in the gaming world.

By Kaylyn Williams

The gaming community is one that’s continuously growing and developing, but we haven’t hit a point to call it “inclusive”. The medium is still dominated by white men and minorities still aren’t fully represented. Recently, Blizzard has come under fire for failing to add a Black woman to their roster in Overwatch (even though it’s been out for three years, come on Blizzard).

It seems like gaming communities just don’t think Black women are in their target audience. That’s not true. We’ve always been there. We wear the merchandise, play the games, and support creators. And now, we’re starting to become more vocal. Black women recognize that there aren’t many spaces that accept us with open arms, so we create our own. There’s an abundance of creators and communities that celebrate Black women in gaming.

It’s easy to be discouraged in the gaming community as a Black woman, but that shouldn’t stop us from participating. So many of us love gaming and want to find a way to talk about it. Sometimes it just feels like we have to put it away. We shouldn’t have to feel like that. There are spaces where we can feel safe amongst one another, talking about the one thing we all love.

Image credit: Black Girl Nerds

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Africa must bust the myth that girls aren't good at maths and science

In Africa, as throughout the world, societies are recognizing that girls and women have just as much to offer scientific and mathematical fields as boys and men. Still, the stigma and the mindset that "girls just aren't that good at science and math" persists. If we want to see more women in careers in science, technology, engineering and mathematics; we have to start at the beginning of the pipeline -- when those women are girls, being influenced by the representations they see and the ideas that surround them. This article from CNBC Africa explores how education and communication play a part, as well as specific obstacles faces by black women, the role of history, how to address the gender imbalance, and how to encourage exploration of math and science by girls, opening minds -- and expanding horizons.  cnbcafrica.com - Africa must bust the myth that girls aren't good at maths and science

Children’s ideas about what their gender means for their intellectual capacity are formed before they have even turned six. One idea that’s particularly pervasive and dangerous is that, only boys are good at maths and science.

Popular media only exacerbates the problem. Research has shown that girls hardly ever see adult women doing jobs that involve science, technology, engineering and maths on television programmes. Children’s programmes also rarely feature women doing anything scientific.

These early stereotypes may lead to young girls developing a “fear” of these subjects throughout their schooling. This ultimately limits their career aspirations. They become afraid to enter into fields that are based on science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM). Statistics compiled by UNESCO reveal that, globally, women make up less than 30% of the people working in STEM careers. The situation is worse in some countries in sub-Saharan Africa.

In South Africa, where I live and work, the problem is worsened by the country’s apartheid history. Today, black women are still struggling to access scientific careers at all. Those who do may fall victim to the “leaky pipeline” syndrome: they start degrees in science, but don’t continue to postgraduate level or go on to work in STEM fields. There are many reasons for this, including gender bias.

by Nox Makunga, Stellenbosch University

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Fighting the STEM gender gap with stories of trailblazing female scientists

pri.org - For writer and illustrator Rachel Ignotofsky, the idea to profile 50 pioneering female scientists in her recent book, “Women in Science,” was spurred by conversations with educator friends. As they talked about the gender gap in science, technology, engineering and math fields, Ignotofsky realized women aren’t just underrepresented in STEM, itself — the stories about their contributions don't get much play, either. This story is based on a radio interview. Listen to the full interview.

“I just kept saying over and over again, we ... only talk about female scientists during women's history month,” she says. “We're not taught about them in school. We're not taught about them in history class, and the only one that we do talk about is Marie Curie.”

“So, what happens to young girls and boys when you're not introduced to these strong female role models, who all throughout history have made an immense impact on the sciences?”

The answer to that question is evident by the numbers: There’s a 22 percent gender gap among science and engineering grads, and a 52 percent gender gap among the entire STEM workforce, according to 2011 data from the United States Census Bureau. “I think when people close their eyes and think of who a scientist is, they don't see a woman,” Ignotofsky says.

Women, Minorities and Persons with Disabilities in Science and Engineering report released

phys.org - The National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics (NCSES) today announced the release of the 2017 Women, Minorities, and Persons with Disabilities in Science and Engineering (WMPD) report, the federal government's most comprehensive look at the participation of these three demographic groups in science and engineering education and employment. The report shows the degree to which women, people with disabilities and minorities from three racial and ethnic groups—black, Hispanic and American Indian or Alaska Native—are underrepresented in science and engineering (S&E;). Women have reached parity with men in educational attainment but not in S&E; employment. Underrepresented minorities account for disproportionately smaller percentages in both S&E; education and employment

Congress mandated the biennial report in the Science and Engineering Equal Opportunities Act as part of the National Science Foundation's (NSF) mission to encourage and strengthen the participation of underrepresented groups in S&E;.

Between Astronaut Jeanette Epps and Hidden Figures, Black Women in STEM Are in the Spotlight

slate.com - In 2018, astronaut Jeanette Epps will become the first black American astronaut to join the crew of the International Space Station. NASA announced the upcoming months-long mission last week; it will also be Epps’ first trip to space. In a NASA video, Epps said she was inspired to become an aerospace engineer as an elementary schooler by Sally Ride and other early female astronauts, as well as some words of encouragement from her brother. Ladies and gentlemen, female role models in action. Since that fateful early-1980s burst of motivation, Epps worked to build up the kind of unimpeachable résumé it takes to make it to NASA: After getting undergrad and master’s degrees, she earned a Ph.D. in aerospace engineering at the University of Maryland. She then spent a few years working for Ford and the CIA, and again with a little encouragement (this time from a friend and fellow astronaut), Epps landed in NASA’s astronaut class of 2009, one of just nine picks out of 3,500 applicants. (By the way, God, does astronaut school need to be a Shondaland show ASAP.)

'Science Wide Open' Aims to Change the Game for Girls In Science

Women scientists rock. And although women have made discoveries throughout history and many start out with a keen interest in science, there is still a gender bias in most scientific fields--and it starts with little girls.

We're big believers in the saying "if she can't see it, she can't be it," so we were thrilled to see the book series Kickstarter Science Wide Open succeed wildly, exceeding its goal by more than ten times.

Science Wide Open, by John Coveyou, will teach "some basic concepts in chemistry, biology and physics in simple and memorable terms by using the natural questions and curiosity of a young child"--but the coolest thing is that the series will do so by telling the stories of women scientists throughout history. The author hopes to inspire a generation of young girls to strive to explore the mysteries of science, just like boys and men have always been encouraged to do.

Coveyou has covered science for young minds before, and has a passion for tapping into the well of wonder and curiosity that drives young people to learn and discover the world around them. It was his daughter that motivated him to represent women in his latest series. Click through to learn more, and keep teaching our young girls and boys to explore and care for the world!

observer.com - Despite the fact that women-led companies perform three times better than those with male CEOs, women in the U.S. earn only 28 percent of computer science degrees, own only 5 percent of tech startups and hold only 11 percent of executive positions at Silicon Valley companies. They make up only 29 percent of the science and engineering workforce, and only 11 percent of physicists and astronomers are women. No matter which part of the STEM world you look into, women are underrepresented. And throughout history, many of the discoveries of female scientists have been actively diminished and sometimes even stolen. That’s not to say girls and women aren’t interested in science, though—a 2012 study from the Girl Scout Institute found 75 percent of girls were interested in fields related to science, technology, engineering and math.

So where are the women scientists? The gender gap in STEM certainly has to do with bias, but the real reason there are so few women in science starts long before they’re ready for careers. It starts when they’re toddlers.

From an early age, girls are—both indirectly and directly—discouraged from pursuing math and science. They’re given (or at least marketed) dolls and play kitchens, while boys are naturally thought to want LEGOs and microscopes. A new Kickstarter from Genius Games, however, is trying to change that with a series of children’s books about women scientists that is both educational and inspiring. It’s called Science Wide Open and has already raised over $30,000 in just the first three days, which is five times its goal.

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The Movie About NASA’s Black Female Scientists That’s Been A Long Time Coming—ThinkProgress

Women, especially women of color, do not always enjoy the notoriety and recognition of their male peers—even when they are instrumental in the scientific progress of humanity. One movie, Hidden Figures, focuses on black women mathematicians working for NASA during the 1960s. ThinkProgress has more about the movie, the nonfiction book upon which it's based, and the movement to recognize women, especially women of color, as central players and leaders in the human story. Check out the trailer here, and read more at the link.

thinkprogress.org - The movie trailer premiered to Twitter fanfare on Sunday night during Olympic prime time. Sandwiched between two Olympic events, the timing of the new trailer seemed aimed at generating buzz for these long-overlooked women among the widest audience possible.

The trailer for Hidden Figures, an upcoming movie focusing on three black female mathematicians working at the NASA during the days of Jim Crow and the civil rights movement, attacks this erasure head on.

The highlights of the space race still loom large in the American imagination. John Glenn, the first man to orbit the earth, and Neil Armstrong, the first man to step on the moon, are both household names. But behind those celebrated men were legions of scientists and engineers, among them scores of brilliant women of all backgrounds, whose brainpower made it all possible. Those women, for the most part, have been forgotten — until now.

In the trailer, a white cop comes across the movie’s three central women — Katherine Johnson (Taraji P. Henson), Dorothy Vaughan (Octavia Spencer), and Mary Jackson (Janelle Monae) — marooned on the side of the road thanks to car trouble (the alternative, one of the women says half-joking and half-not, would be to “sit in the back of the bus”). When the cop asks for ID, they hand over a NASA ID card.

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Celebrating women’s contributions to science

Despite the narrative of scientific research and discovery being dominated by men, women have had a hand in driving science forward throughout history. Today women have made significant strides, but many fields remain male-dominated. However, many women perservere against stereotypes and in spite of discouragement—not for recognition; but because they, like any scientists; are driven to study, explore, and lead the way through scientific progress. ResearchGate, an online hub by and for scientists, sat down with several women researchers to discuss their work, advice for women pursuing careers in science, and more.

researchgate.net - While gender parity remains a significant problem in STEM research—according to UNESCO, women account for just 28% of researchers worldwide—female scientists are also making major contributions in male-dominated fields. We speak with some of those women about their work and ask them what advice they have for aspiring scientists.

Brooke Anderson Thornton Mission Operations Manager - NASA

ResearchGate: Could you tell us a bit about your work?

Thornton: I am the Mission Operation Manager for the Stratospheric Aerosol Gas Experiment (SAGE) III on International Space Station (ISS). I oversee the operations of the instrument on the space station. The number one priority is to ensure the instrument is working properly, and we do this by monitoring temperatures, voltages, currents, and other information from the instrument to ensure it is operating within its limits. We also develop and execute the commands that operate the instrument, download the science data from the instrument, and coordinate ISS activities and special science requests.

RG: When you were entering your field, were there women you looked to as science role models?

Thornton: When I first began at NASA, I was performing radiation analysis on new concepts for space suits and habitats. During my research, I encountered some of the work that Dava Newman had done at MIT. Her use of multi-disciplinary research on the space suit gave me the motivation to look into how different materials could not only provide radiation protection, but also support other systems including structural and thermal support.  Now it’s great to see that her hard work has propelled her to Deputy Administrator at NASA, and this continues to motivate me to work hard knowing the possibilities I could reach.

RG: What advice would you give young women thinking of pursuing careers in science?

Thornton: My advice to young women is to have determination and not take things personally, especially negative feedback. Know that you will make mistakes and people will call you out on them. When this happens, it’s easy to take it personally and let it lower your self-esteem. Criticism doesn’t mean you’re not a good scientist or engineer! You need to have determination: learn from it, correct it, and continue to work hard; then you will earn respect from your colleagues.

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Intel: Connecting People to Their Potential

  Education is the single most powerful tool we have for unlocking economic opportunity and building a foundation for a successful future.

Technology plays an increasingly critical role in that equation, improving options for and the quality of education for millions around the world.

Empowering Girls and Women Through Education and Technology

Intel: Empowering Girls & Women Through Education & Technology

Expanding technology access is a crucial early step in empowering underserved populations, including girls and women.

The educational benefits made possible by technology can be powerful no matter if a person wishes to learn how to speak English, increase crop yield or become an entrepreneur. Click here for more information.

Intel: Connecting People to Their Potential

Through the Intel Global Girls and Women Initiative, Intel is working to empower millions of girls and women around the world by closing the gender gap in education access, inspiring more girls and women to become creators of technology, and connecting girls and women to opportunity through technology access.

Internet Access: A Global Example

Internet access differs dramatically around the world. Notably left behind are girls and women. On average, nearly 25 percent fewer women than men are online in developing countries. This represents 200 million fewer women than men who are online today.

• In Sub-Saharan Africa, the size of the gap is nearly 45 percent.
• The gap is nearly 35 percent in South Asia, the Middle East and North Africa.
• It is nearly 30 percent in parts of Europe and across Central Asia.
• In most higher-income countries, women’s Internet access only minimally lags that of men’s and in countries such as France and the United States, in fact exceeds it.
• As a comparison, the gender gap in China is about 20 percent.

Statistics from Women and the Web Report by Intel Corporation

Educate a Girl, Change the World

Intel: Connecting People to Their Potential

Girl Rising is a global action campaign for girls' education. It started with a groundbreaking, inspirational flm. Now it’s a movement to lift barriers to girls' education, to drive change and motivate leaders to take action.

Intel is a founding strategic partner of the Girl Rising campaign as well as supporter of the digital distribution of the film.

Girl Rising

From Academy Award-nominated director Richard E. Robbins, "Girl Rising" journeys around the globe to witness the strength of the human spirit and the power of education to change the world.

Viewers get to know nine unforgettable girls living in the developing world: ordinary girls who confront tremendous challenges and overcome nearly impossible odds to pursue their dreams. Prize-winning authors put the girls’ remarkable stories into words, and renowned actors give them voice.

Join the Campaign

Want to show the film at your school, company or community organization? Millions have experienced Girl Rising around the world. Bring the flm to your community by hosting a screening. A story can inspire. A story can deliver powerful truths. A story can change lives. Click here to learn how to get involved with Girl Rising.

Connecting Women to Opportunity Through Technology

Intel: Connecting People to Their Potential

Intel She Will Connect

The Intel She Will Connect program aims to close the Internet gender gap by connecting millions of girls and women to opportunity through technology. The Internet in particular, has transformed the lives of billions of people. It functions as a gateway to ideas, resources, and opportunities that never could have been realized before.know how to use the Internet, but we don’t know how to use it to benefit our lives.”

Women and the Web

Technology, the Internet in particular, has transformed the lives of billions of people. It functions as a gateway to ideas, resources and opportunities that never could have been realized before. All around the world, the Internet is helping people to imagine new possibilities. But girls and women are being left behind.

As the Internet can provide enormous economic, social and professional value, the Internet gender gap has very serious consequences for women and for society more broadly.

Learn more about the Women and the Web Report.

Inspiring Girls to Become Technology Creators

Intel: Connecting People to Their Potential

MakeHers Report: Engaging Girls and Women in Technology through Making, Creating, and Inventing.

Our world needs more female innovators to tackle its toughest challenges.

The Maker movement has the potential to engage more girls and women in creating technology: Learn how Making can inspire more women to be technology innovators.

Six ways to engage more girls and women in making

• Build: Build more girl- and women-inclusive maker environments in public places like libraries and schools.
• Encourage: Encourage parents to "embrace the mess" and engage in making with their sons and daughters.
• Design: Design maker spaces that enable open-ended investigation of projects meaningful to girls and women.
• Align: Align with current fads to attract girls to activities such as coding and making hardware.
• Develop: Develop initiatives that five girls more access to female mentors and makers of their own age.
• Include: Include facilitators in maker spaces to create a safe, supportive, inclusive environment for girls and women.

Intel supports a range of programs, competitions, and resources that seek to inspire and empower more girls and women to create and build the technology of the future.

Intel focuses on programs that feature hands-on activities such as "Maker" projects and coding, involve peer mentors and role models and connect technology and engineering careers to positive social impact.

Yes, Girls Do Code

From creating apps that teach coding to inventing umbrellas that light up when hit with raindrops, girls show they have the skills and vision to excel in technology careers.

The Girls Who Code program teaches girls coding skills through computer and science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) projects to inspire and prepare them for college and to close the gender gap in technology-related companies. Watch the video.

Intel Science Talent Search (STS)

Intel STS finalists demonstrate vision, creativity and determination to make the world better using science. Projects range from seeking better ways to locate cancer cells, to using computer science to find distant galaxies. Five female semifinalists and finalists in the Intel Science Talent Search share their groundbreaking discoveries in medicine, astronomy and biology, breaking down gender stereotypes in STEM to show that girls can change the world. Explore their projects.

Exposing Girls to Technology

The CompuGirls program offers girls from under-resourced school districts the opportunity to attend summer and after-school classes to learn the latest in digital media, games and virtual worlds.

It’s not often people have the opportunity to connect professional skills with their personal passions. Eshe Pickett, a design automation engineer at Intel, believes that volunteering with CompuGirls is an opportunity to change the world, "one girl at a time." Pickett not only enjoys her job, she enjoys the unique opportunity to combine her professional skills with her passion for impacting the lives of young women. Read more...

Click here for more information about Intel’s initiatives to inspire girls and young women to pursue studies and careers in technology, engineering and computer science and to see all the ways Intel is collaborating to connect people to their potential and advance economic empowerment.

Article by Suzanne Fallender, Intel Corporation

All photos courtesy of Intel Corporation

© 2015 Intel Corporation. All rights reserved. Intel and the Intel logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of Intel Corporation or its subsidiaries in the United States and other countries.*Other names and brands may be claimed as the property of others.

Supermodel Karlie Kloss chats with us about the launch of Kode With Klossy, a coding camp for girls

techcrunch.com - Karlie Kloss made headlines last year when she announced she was not only a high-ranking model but could also code in Ruby.

Kloss, who says she’s always been interested in math and science, started learning to program a couple of years ago.

The supermodel partnered with the Flatiron School in New York City last year to launch #KodewithKarlie, a scholarship program for teen girls.

The supermodel is now starting Kode With Klossy, a coding summer camp for girls ages 13-18. The two-week camp will provide scholarships to 80 young women from New York, Los Angeles and Karlie’s hometown of St. Louis, Missouri.

Kloss chatted with me recently about why she decided to pick up the coding trade, how that plays out in her supermodel world and why she decided to launch a camp for young women interested in programming.

TC: You’re a supermodel with an ultra-successful career in the fashion industry. Why learn to code? What’s the story behind wanting to do that?

KK: I grew up in St. Louis and didn’t really know anything about fashion until I walked in a charity fashion show at my local mall and was signed to a modeling agency. Before my modeling career took off, I really loved my math and science classes in school. My dad was an ER doctor and as a girl, I dreamed of following in his footsteps. Taking coding classes brings me back to the excitement I felt as a kid in first-period biology. I’m a curious person and coding allows me to think about how our world is built.

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Featured Act: Empowering girls with tech and science in Ghana

The Melton Foundation is a network of citizens around the world that promotes global citizenship to address issues around the world, as well as to encourage individuals and organizations to reach across boundaries and work together. Last month they started featuring philanthropic efforts in their 100 Acts of Global Citizenship  program. The first Featured Act is the work of Melton Fellow Vladimir Fomene, who encourages young students--especially girls--to learn coding and computer science starting at an early age.

meltonfoundation.org - This post is the first Featured Act from our 100 Acts of Global Citizenship program. To discover more acts, visit our campaign page!

Vladimir Fomene, a Melton Fellow from Cameroon, studies computer science at Ashesi University. When he started thinking about his Act of Global Citizenship, Vladimir wanted to address a social cause in his own field of study. That's how he came up with the idea to empower young people, especially girls, with technology skills.

"When I started coding, I realized that things would have been easier if I had started when I was very young," Vladimir said. "I thought it would give people more opportunities if they start coding at a very early age."

Vladimir organized a workshop for junior high students at Christ the King International College in Accra which included teamwork activities, a graphic design session and scratch programming session. Although the session was open for both boys and girls, Vladimir especially encouraged the girls to participate actively.

"In STEM fields, there is a gender balance problem because they are dominated by men," Vladimir says. "Many more girls are interested in going for technology fields, but they are not introduced to these things early on."

Read more here.

Women in Science: Meet the Stemettes star inspiring more girls into STEM

Anne-Marie Imafidon, a child prodigy in math and science, has spent the past three years leading an organization dedicated to helping girls follow in her path. She spoke with International Business Times UK about her work championing the cause of women and girls in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics). She's the co-founder of Stemettes, an organization working to get more girls and women into STEM careers by starting them early: If girls are encouraged to love and pursue science and math, it will pay off down the road.

Even as she received honors and invitations to speak, Imafidon came to realize that being a woman in tech was much more of an anomaly than it should be. She co-founded Stemettes (originally the Stemettes Project) in 2013, and the organization has already helped increase the number of girls taking STEM subjects and GCSE exams.

Imafidon discusses her organization, as well as why so few girls are pursuing STEM subjects—and why even fewer women stay in STEM careers. From stereotyping and culture to scheduling conflicts and internal biases, the deck can seem stacked against girls who want to pursue STEM subects. However, the benefits to doing so—for both girls and a world that needs educated girls—are too important to ignore.

Find out much more about Stemettes and Imafidon's insights in the article, excerpted here and in full at the link.

ibtimes.co.uk - If there was ever someone to inspire girls into science, Anne-Marie Imafidon is the woman for the job. Imafidon is the co-founder of Stemettes, an award-winning social enterprise encouraging girls into the fields of science, technology, engineering and maths, and she has an intimidating CV.

Having passed GCSEs in maths and ICT aged 10, she holds the current world record for the youngest girl ever to pass an A level in computing – she was 11. Two years later, she received a scholarship to study maths at a top US university. Imafidon then went on to become one of the youngest to be awarded a Masters degree in maths and computer science at Oxford.

Yet despite the incredible successes of the likes of Imafidon, women are still chronically underrepresented in the STEM workforce. The problem starts young: more boys take science subjects at school, and studies have shown the girls who do take them, and so often excel, lack the confidence to pursue the high-paid STEM careers. Too many talented young scientists, technicians, engineers and mathematicians are walking away from exciting, rewarding and well-paid jobs.

"I graduated, worked for two years and then it was only when I was sent to speak at a conference in the US that it hit me – I was a woman in tech," Imafidon tells IBTimes UK on the International Day of Women and Girls in Science.

Read the rest here.

8 ways you can empower girls to learn coding

Make sure to check out this article, excerpted below, by Matt Petronzio of Mashable about how to invest in girls by empowering them to learn coding—the language of the future—so they will be part of a revolution in STEM careers. Petronzio discusses the progress we've made so far, hurdles we must still overcome, what the average person can do and much more. We've included just the first below. See the full article for the other seven points as well as statistics, inspiration and ideas about what you can do to help encourage and empower some of our brightest girls.

1. Know the specific barriers we need to overcome.

Before anything, you need to understand the systemic obstacles preventing girls from getting into coding. Both a culture that persistently ignores and discourages girls' abilities in computer science, and the lack of access to tools and education, play influential roles.

Reshma Saujani, founder and CEO of Girls Who Code, says it's deeply ingrained in our culture to let it be OK for girls to say they don't like math and science.

"We almost sensationalize it in culture for girls to promote that," she tells Mashable. "You can walk into a Forever 21 and buy a T-shirt that says 'I'm allergic to algebra' ... You're always showcasing these really smart girls hiding their intelligence when it comes to math and science."

If girls can't see themselves in these professions, Saujani adds, they're not going to choose to pursue them. And that also extends to inside classrooms, where coding is rarely offered to students in general, much less focusing on girls — an obstacle Code.org founder and CEO Hadi Partovi says is equally as significant as culture.

"If you enter a classroom and you see 18 boys and two girls, you automatically think, 'I'm in the wrong place and I'm not welcome,'" Partovi says. "And that makes it harder."

[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5eJYW4ew5eg[/embed]

Read the rest of the article here. Also check out CodeGirl, a documentary from award-winning filmmaker Lesley Chilcott that follows teams from the thousands of girls around the world taking part in the Global Technovation Challenge by building apps that help their communities.

Women Hackathons: A Gateway to the Evolution of a More Equal World

The Meera Kaul Foundation addresses gender bias and funds organizations led by women to help “eradicate inequality through education, programs, seminars and conferences.” Check out their post excerpted below and on Entrepreneur Middle East, about hackathons for women: a coding and computer science movement that's sweeping the world to foster cutting edge ideas and collaboration and help women innovators, developers, tech geeks and entrepreneurs form connections and pursue goals that can change the world. 

entrepreneur.com - In a world where the rate of female computer science graduates is declining at an alarming rate, the number of women enrolling in technical courses at universities has also seen a dramatic decline—which further impacts the motivation of women already involved in STEM vocations. The end result is a microscopic pipeline of women in STEM careers, primarily computing and engineering. While opportunities in these vocations have evolved, women’s involvement in these domains has plummeted. This is not a pretty equation, both from the perspective of the social and economic status of women, and also from the standpoint of the progress and development of communities, as women are known to be active contributors to the capacity building of other women and their communities.

When I promote hackathons for women, I invariably get asked why such an inclusive program should exist. Our nonprofit organization, the Meera Kaul Foundation, has a program called Women in STEM, whose primary mission is to enable women to educate and build skills to enable careers in highly paid jobs of STEM. Holding hackathons all around the world has been an initiative that we have undertaken the world over, and thus proliferate our mission into regions that need our support the most.

Read more about the Meera Kaul Foundation, Women in STEM, hackathons, and the culture of bias and stereotype women in tech still face here. The second annual Women in STEM Hackathon in Dubai will be held February 19 through 20, welcoming women from across the MENA region.