GIRLS WHO CODE
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“There are different pieces to it,” said Sandu. “Number one is awareness of these career paths for girls. There’s still a stereotype – it’s been chipped away at, but it still exists – between roles that are generally seen as female versus male. “It’s definitely changing, but we still have to be intentional about it. Exposing girls to these types of technologies and learning pathways is important because they haven’t been built into the school curriculum, though that’s changing. Supplementary programmes through organisations like Girls Who Code matter, but ultimately, change at the school curriculum level is essential too.” Someone to look up to As Sandu says, more women are entering the tech sector. Leading to more potential role models for the young girls thinking about a career in the first place. “There’s also the question of what girls see out there – how many women do they see in leadership roles in tech, and what type of roles? Is it HR or engineering? “Role models matter enormously. If you don’t see women in roles, and there’s unconscious bias around which roles are seen as female versus male, those are things we have to be intentional about changing. “I didn’t have a role model in my day-to-day lived experience, but there were figures like Indra Nooyi at Pepsi, a woman who had an accent, was an immigrant, and rose to the top of an organisation like that. Listening and learning from women in roles perhaps not in my direct field was important. “Generally, the environments I worked in were more male-leaning in terms of workforce makeup. I really benefited from men who wanted women to progress in the workplace and were making an effort around it. It is the job of men and women, boys and girls, to make this change – it can’t be one- sided.” n
Science, and Game Design, and students will gain hands-on coding experience from those in the industry. “The Summer Pathways Programme is a programme Girls Who Code established to provide learning and experience for the girls in IT, in technologies like cybersecurity and AI, and we worked with them to integrate network power solutions into that as well. “There are two components: an online learning component and an in-classroom component. Vonage employees will be delivering the training, so we’ll be deeply involved in developing the curriculum in partnership with Girls Who Code, giving the girls access to our APIs, helping them understand what they are and what you can do with them, and then hands-on experience so they can actually play with the tech.” Changing Attitudes According to the report from PWC, 61% of women said they hadn’t considered a career in the tech industry because they didn’t know enough about it. Also, 50% said the most important factor in choosing a career is feeling their work makes the world a better place, and because the women surveyed were largely unaware of how technology can be used as a force for positive societal impact, they didn’t view tech as a viable path to fulfil this goal.
The Summer Pathways
Programme is a programme Girls Who Code established to provide learning and experience for the girls in IT... ...Vonage employees will be delivering the training, so we’ll be deeply involved in developing the curriculum in partnership with Girls Who Code.
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