These girls want to change the face of coding.
This summer, over 1,000 girls around the country are participating in a free summer program that gives them intensive instruction in computer science and mentorship from top female technology executives.
The summer program is put on by Girls Who Code, a nonprofit that empowers women to pursue technology-related careers and sends them to the campuses of tech companies like Microsoft.
The gender gap in technology is vast. In 2013, just over a quarter of computing jobs were held by women -- a percentage that has actually decreased since 1990.
Girls attending the summer program told Microsoft a little bit about why they think it's important that girls learn how to code. Here's what some of them said:
