Yesterday, I wrote a blog about the late David Bunnell. He is the father of tech media. He also has a legacy of social justice. ?In the 1980s, he criticized the tech industry for being, ‘a white male revolution’. Maybe he was onto something. Because women in computer jobs fall…and keep falling.
Research says women in the computer tech workforce could fall to 22% by 2025, while it’s at 24% now. Just think…women made up for 37% of computer based jobs back in 1995. In addition to that, the news goes further downhill. Only 18% of computer science majors are young women. In 1984, that number was 37%. And another thing: Silicon Valley is just as bad. In the tech capital of America, only 30% of employees are women. But women make up for 51% of the US population.
A group called Girls Who Code work hard to combat this trend. They’re encouraging women and girls to pursue computer science careers. They want to increase the number of women in computer jobs to 39% by 2025. Girls Who Code runs computer science summer camps for girls. They hosts conferences to get women of all ages interested in computer science.??Reshma Saujani, CEO of girls who code, urges teaching computer science to girls at an early age.
But despite efforts of Girls Who Code, and Silicon Valley leaders like Sheryl Sandberg, the gap isn’t getting better. Instead, it’s getting worse. We need less legal changes and more cultural changes. Another statistic says girls and boys are equal in math and science. But come college time, most computer science majors are men. I remember this commercial from several years ago. This young girl is playing with a computer. The parent yanks the computer toy away, and gives her a doll instead. Another girl says she wants to work in computers. The people laugh at her. We need to change this mind set. Let’s encourage all our young people, especially girls, to live their dreams. If they want to be computer technicians, teach and encourage. America’s future might depend on it. How else might we bridge this gap?