As a trained Sociologist who has a few sisters, yet no brothers, I have a keen eye for recognizing sex and gender inequalities -- especially when it comes to females (at least I like to think so). Truth be told, many such claims of girls and women being excluded or underrepresented in certain industries aren't always the case of purposeful oppression. In other words, a certain gender having a larger role in something could be organic -- men and women are different, and that is OK.
When it comes to STEM ( Science, Technology, Engineering and Math), however, it has largely been a boys-club, due to years of arguably intentional exclusion based on ignorant thoughts regarding the minds and capabilities of women. Actually (and obviously), girls and women can absolutely thrive in the sciences, and Google has long been a proponent of its encouragement. Today, the company continues it its positive focus by making the documentary "CODEGIRL" free for 5 days on YouTube. The film shows thousands of girls competing in a coding competition, which should not only be inspiring, for other girls, but all people regardless of sex or gender.
"When it comes to computer science, millions of girls are being left out of the conversation. Despite earning the majority of bachelor's degrees in the U.S., women earn fewer than 20 percent of computer science degrees, with serious implications for our economy and for women at large. The problem of getting girls more interested in tech has many sources, but according to Google’s own research, one of them is optics. Girls don’t see positive role models of other girls and women in popular culture. In a study of popular films in 11 countries, fewer than 20 percent of computer science or tech roles were held by women", says Susan Wojcicki, CEO of YouTube.
Wojcicki explains that the film "follows the story of 5,000 girls from 60 countries as they compete in a global entrepreneurship and coding competition by Technovation. The girls have three months to develop an app that attempts to solve a problem in their local community. In the film, they size up their competition, interact with teachers and local mentors, learn to code, and pitch their ideas all in hopes of winning $10,000 in funding and support".
You can watch the full film by clicking "play" above. Seriously, the film is entirely free and clocks in at an hour and 48 minutes. Sadly, it will not be free forever; you can only watch it without paying starting today, November 1, through November 5th. Yes, you have five full days to watch the film, and I encourage you to watch it with your children if you have any; both boys and girls can benefit from seeing these girls participating in coding.
If you watch the film, tell me what you think of it in the comments below.
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