Girls Who Code: Brightening the Future for Women in Tech

January 29th, 2009, wasn’t your typical Thursday, at least not for me anyway. On this day, President Obama signed his first piece of legislation, the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act.

Quite simply, this law makes it easier for women to effectively challenge unequal pay. This law struck a chord within me as not only a woman working in the male-dominated tech industry but also as the soon-to-be-mother of a girl who will undoubtedly face gender inequality at some point during her lifetime. When I began my career 16 years ago, I wanted to work in an environment that was committed to gender equality especially given the widening gender gap in computer science in the past few decades.

As it stands now, women represent half of the U.S. workforce, but we only hold 25 percent of tech and computer science jobs. This disparity means we have a tremendous opportunity and a great responsibility to raise a new generation of women in technology who think creatively, push the envelope, and who aren?t afraid to take risks and impact the world around them (my now 6-year old daughter included.) After all, men and women fundamentally think differently, react to situations differently, and vary greatly in their problem-solving techniques. This difference is a good thing, and I firmly believe that diversity in the workplace is essential to the success of any business.

Tricia Barlow

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