Google's quest to get more women in tech
Google's quest to get more women in tech
 |
Women developers team up at Google San Francisco to build projects using littleBits electronic modules and other supplies.
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
- Google is reaching out to encourage more women to enter tech
- The company invited more women to its annual developers conference this year
- Social events, day care and scholarships are also being used to reach out to women
During his keynote
address at the Google I/O developers conference this month, co-founder
Larry Page said that Google had been focused on recruiting more women
"forever" to ensure that the company didn't end up all male.
"The only answer is, we
have to start early and make sure we get more women and girls excited in
technology," said Page. "There's no question we will double the rate of
progress"
The company has a number of year-round initiatives
aimed at hiring and educating more women programmers, including
scholarships and events. The annual developers' conference offers a rare
public, visual example of the industry's gender gap and the company's
progress.
In the past, the number
of women attendees and speakers has been low in the halls and onstage.
Since the conference started in 2008, Google has been working to shift
the numbers. According to Google Vice President Megan Smith, this year
the percentage of women at this year's Google I/O was in the teens, up
from a single digital slice at last year's conference.
Google has worked to
shine a spotlight on the astonishing women already in technology, as
well as the women who have done important work in the field throughout
history. The Women Techmakers Fireside Chat featured some of Google's
high-ranking women, and the event was quickly filled to capacity with a
mix of men and women.
"Its been a priority from
the beginning ... the visibly of technical women is something we really
want to work on," said Smith, who works at Google[x], Google's
semi-secretive experimental wing that works on futuristic projects and
prototypes.
First they made a concerted effort to find talented women in the field from around the world to invite to the conference.
"We felt like there were
incredible technical women who should be at I/O, who for whatever reason
weren't there," said Smith. "We did a lot of work to just make sure
that we were increasing the presence of women leaders ... on the stage
and in demos."
They also organized a
social event for all the women attendees and offered on-site day care
for all parents attending the conference. Kids were also welcome on the
floor, and one dad wrote in to say it had been a great father-daughter
event.
At the Women Techmakers Social, one team created the ultimate travel pillow that included a fan and reading lights.
Another continuing part
of Google's approach is community building for women already in the
field so that they feel less isolated. It held a Women Techmakers social
for female I/O attendees at Google San Francisco before the conference.
Women were invited to meet their peers, enjoy some wine and food from
the Google kitchen, and then break off into teams up to create unique
projects using littleBits and arts and crafts supplies.
Developer Rony Rozen was
at the event and came all the way from Israel to attend the conference
after Google invited her. Rozen is the founder of poccaDot,
an iOS and Android app development company in Tel Aviv. She started the
company after serving as a programmer with the Israeli Air Force, and
she is a mentor for mobile development at Google's Israel campus.
"I think Google can (and
should) expand their efforts to be more visible to the general public
and not just to the people who are already in the industry," said Rozen.
"Incorporate more women into their commercials, make sure to advertise
women tech-makers events throughout the year and eventually also expand
the relevant age groups to focus on younger girls."
Smith is influenced by
the success of the Harvey Mudd school in southern California, headed up
by president Maria Klawe. Its computer science department is now 44%
women, thanks to efforts by the school to figure out why more women
weren't joining in the first place.
What it found was
partially a PR problem. Some women didn't think the field sounded
interested due to a lack of understanding of what the work entailed.
They also didn't think they'd be good at it and there were also
stereotypes about the kind of people who worked in the field.
"Young women are very
interested in having an impact on the world," said Smith. "We haven't
connected the dots for them" that coding can have a direct impact on
issues that are important to them.
It's not just a matter
of reaching out to young people. Women are getting into computer science
later in life as returning professionals. And going back to college
isn't the only way to learn programming, according to Smith. Anyone can
take classes on sites like Khan Academy, Codecademy and Coursera.
Female programmers are
also spreading the word on their own. Rozen is doing her part by
teaching her young nieces how to program.
"We as a society need to
make sure that more young boys and girls are exposed to this kind of
education as early in possible in life, and I think that Google plays a
major role in our achieving that goal."
Copy http://edition.cnn.com/
Nenhum comentário:
Postar um comentário