Reshma Saujani: 6 Questions about Girls Who Code

It's no secret that the IT industry has a serious gender imbalance. We live in an era in which girls are told they can do anything, so why aren't there more women in IT leadership roles? In 2012, Reshma Saujani founded Girls Who Code with the mission of correcting this disparity. Since then, she has sparked a national conversation about increasing the number of women in technology. With Google and Twitter as backers, and Facebook and AT&T (among others) signed on as mentors, Girls Who Code has reached more than 185,000 girls, 90 percent of whom have declared or intend to declare a major or minor in computer science. Saujani advocates a new model of female leadership focused on embracing risk and failure and promoting mentorship and sponsorship.

Not long after Saujani's featured session at the EDUCAUSE Annual Conference in October 2019, EDUCAUSE President and CEO John O'Brien caught up with her to ask several follow-on questions.

O'Brien:
Girls Who Code is unapologetically focused on younger ages. What do college and university IT professionals need to know about your organization?

Saujani:
Girls Who Code has reached 185,000 girls since launching in 2012. We have 30,000 college-aged alumni. These women have the skills they need to succeed in computer science—what they need now is support from those of you in higher education. Studies have found that roughly 40 percent of students planning engineering and CS-related majors end up switching to other subjects or failing to get any degree. In fall 2018, we designed our College Loops program, university-level networks of alumni and young women in computer science, to provide our alumni with a sisterhood where they will feel like they belong and will receive the support they need to persist and thrive in computer science. IT professionals are a critical part of this sisterhood.

O'Brien:
Our numbers show that fewer women held the higher education Chief Information Officer position in 2019 than in 2018. Are you seeing more encouraging indicators that this can change significantly as you look farther down the leadership pipeline at rising women leaders?

Saujani:
The numbers aren't good. Women make up just 5 percent of leadership positions in the tech industry. Women of color are almost completely absent at the senior level. We've seen progress on entry-level hiring, but we haven't made a dent at the leadership level. As we think about this in tech, a question on my mind is: How do we avoid the pitfalls of other fields that have closed the gap in entry-level jobs (i.e., medicine and law) but haven't seen movement at the top?

O'Brien:
What do you think the biggest barrier is to dramatically changing the gender mix in the next few years? Do you have ideas for new strategies? What are you working on next?

Saujani:
In 2019, we surveyed our alumni who were interviewing for jobs in tech, and we found that half of them either had experienced a negative experience (sexism, harassment, discrimination) or knew a woman who had. Tech companies have a culture problem that rears its ugly head even in the interview process. What we need now is for tech to be intentional about hiring, retaining, and promoting women. We're thinking about how we can work with our partners at tech companies to change this.

O'Brien:
I love the idea of encouraging more women to seek careers in the IT field, but if the workplace they discover there is not also encouraging, supportive, and free of bias, they won't last long. What can we do to prepare welcoming workplaces for Girls Who Code alumni?

Saujani:
At Girls Who Code, we're thinking about how we can work with our partners at tech companies to change this situation and make workplaces more welcoming. There are some great organizations, like AnitaB.org, that are spotlighting those companies moving the needle on diversity and representation and creating more inclusive work environments. We're thinking about this too and about how we can help our students navigate the workforce.

O'Brien:
What can men do to support this work? Do we need a Boys Who Code organization to teach male coders how to work collaboratively across genders?

Saujani:
Men are critical in this work as our allies. Of the teachers at Girls Who Code, 40 percent are men, and they are a vital part of our sisterhood. When I think about some of the work that men can do, it's often about knowing the power of your voice and using it for good. Sometimes that means speaking up when someone makes a sexist comment, even if that someone is your friend or superior. It also means being vulnerable. It means sharing your salary with female colleagues so that they know their worth. It means noticing and correcting biases.

O'Brien:
How can college and university IT professionals get involved in supporting Girls Who Code?

Saujani:
Support a Girls Who Code Club or College Loop on your campus. Become a mentor.

Reshma Saujani is Founder and CEO of Girls Who Code.

John O'Brien is President and CEO of EDUCAUSE.