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Organizations That Teach Girls Computing, Featuring Tammy Butow

Organizations That Teach Girls Computing, Featuring Tammy Butow

Programs That Encourage Girls to Explore Computing, With Tammy Butow
As Women’s History Month wraps up, it’s important to highlight what is being done to improve the future for the young women in our society. Computing is one of the fastest growing professions across the world. New technologies are constantly needing new minds and perspectives. Right now, the female perspective is lacking and its due to women and girls not gaining exposure to computing. The ratio right now is around 20% women according to most studies. This is not acceptable.

Luckily, there are many programs that are designed to encourage girls and young women to explore computing. These companies are driven to destroy the gender gap and create a culture of equality in computing.


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Girls Who Code

Girls Who Code is an American organization that focuses on teaching girls computing. They do this by offering classes to young girls. This includes after-school clubs, 2-week campus programs, and even 7-week summer immersion programs where 10th and 11th grade girls can work at tech companies.

Girls Who Code offers programs wherever there is interest. The map on the website shows offerings across the entire country. According to their website, 65% of club participants say they are considering a major or minor in computer science because of Girls Who Code. 93% of summer immersion participants say they are interested in majoring in computer science!

Reshma Saujani says, “The demographic of Girls Who Code is the demographic of our nation. From Clubs in rural Oklahoma to homeless shelters in Massachusetts, to the country’s most prestigious private schools—girls everywhere are united by their passion to use technology to solve problems in their day-to-day lives and make a positive impact on the world.”

You can donate here.

Girl Geek Academy

Girl Geek Academy is an organization based in Australia. They have a variety of programs, with programs teaching girls how to code at age five. They teach girls computing through games and other activities. Their goal is to teach one million women technical skills by 2025. They want to level the playing field with their male counterparts. This is done through working with teachers, schools, corporations, and startups. Although they are primarily based in Australia, they have interest from around the world.

I recently spoke with one of the founders of Girl Geek Academy, Tammy Butow, about the program.

How many countries have you worked in? How are you reaching out to young women?

“Right now, we have focused primarily on Australia because there is a ton of support from both federal and local government and the tech community. We have also worked in the USA. We have had interest from women in over 50 countries. There is a huge demand for what we do!

We don’t need to reach out, they find us. Because we have had so much support we have appeared in national newspapers, global magazines and even appeared on Sky Business news. Many young women find us through word-of-mouth. Their friends hear about what we do and tell each other, it’s really great. We are building a wonderful community. Right now there are over 5000 of us.”

Hopefully, America follows Australia’s example and promotes programs looking to help young girls develop a love for computing!

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