This summer I helped change the world. Well, not really, but I took part in a movement that is. I was in a summer program called Girls Who Code, which gives high school girls a crash course in how to program in order to close the gender gap in the tech world. It was a ton of fun, and I found out how important it is that girls code.
Girls are turning their backs on tech - and we have to change that. The percent of women working in tech has decreased since the '90s. I can hardly believe this! How on earth have technology fields become more male dominated as more and more women join the work force? In the '90s women made up more than a third of the tech workforce, but that number has dropped to just over a quarter according to the US Census. Did you know most of our workers are now women? Over 57% of the professional workforce is female according to the Department for Professional Employees. However women make up only a quarter of all jobs in computer and math professions.
There are five reasons that all girls should learn how to code.
- Great future jobs in every field - art, medicine, you name it - will go to people who can code. If we want to be part of one of the fastest growing job markets out there we need to jump on board! Over the last ten years growth in STEM jobs has been three times faster than growth in non-STEM fields according to US Department of commerce. Women will never be able to keep up with men in the professional workplace if we don't join the fastest growing fields.
