Girls Who Code is a national nonprofit organization, dedicated to closing the technology gender gap. Girls Who Code Lincoln is a local chapter of Girls Who Code clubs that meet weekly, with volunteer instsructors, to help girls learn to code.
Lincoln Girls Who Code began in January 2016 by employees of Fuse and Hudl. Since that time, dozens of girls across multiple clubs have had the opportunity to be exposed to coding and interact with leaders from the tech community. The girls have had opportunities to help plan and build community impact projects, and have presented at local tech meetups. Lincoln Girls Who Code is run by a small group of volunteers.
Justin pointed out that the jobs in the technology industries is going up regularly. However, the percentage of females in those positions is going down. A recent report showed that, at Google, there are 30% female to 70% men. Looking at the trends, the degrees sought by females is now shifting to the medical and legal fields.
The fact is that the first computer programmers were female. When the computer was invented, many of the men were in the armed services, leaving the women working in all other fields.
There is a challenge to, not only get girls interested, but to keep them interested. When asked who was interested in the computer and technology area, the percentages go down as girls get older:
66% of those 6 to 12 years of age are interested.
That changes to 33% for those between 13 and 18.
And, in college, only 4% of the females are interested in the tech industry.
So the focus is on middle school - teaching girls to code through creativity, bravery and teamwork.
Justin shared some video clips of the girls talking about what they had done and what challenges they are facing with their projects.
There are several opportunities to get involved with Lincoln Girls Who Code, which you can check out at https://lincolngirlswhocode.com/.