According to the European Commission’s report on “Women active in the ICT sector,” the best way to attract women to a digital career is to give more visibility to positive models, successful and active women in the field and create concrete hands-on opportunities for them to experiment with new technology.
The main reasons that prevent women from becoming protagonists on the digital stage are mainly related to prejudice. These are the main barriers identified in the report:
- Cultural traditions and stereotypes on the role of women
- Internal barriers and socio-psychological factors (lack of self-esteem, lack of negotiation skills, disinterest in risk and dislike of competition)
- External barriers: a predominantly male environment, problems reconciling private and professional lives and lack of reference models in the sector.
The final hackathon finale, which will be held today and tomorrow at the Phyrtual Innovation Gym, is meant to accelerate the reduction of the gender gap. The event will end with the Coding Girls coding marathon with schools from Rome and Naples.
Coding Girls is promoted by the Fondazione Mondo Digitale with the United States Embassy in Rome and the collaboration of the USA Consulate General for Southern Italy [also see news: Coding and Technology].
WHO ARE THE COACHES AND TUTORS?
Ashley Gavin
Ashley, 28, returns to Rome and the FMD, to coach a week-long all-female hackathon.
Ashley graduated in Computer science in 2010 and then earned an software engineering degree from MIT. Ashley developed the computer curriculum that was adopted by Girls who Code, the organization founded in 2012 in New York by Reshma Saujani to “bridge the gender gap in the technological sector by breaking stereotypes that portray coding as a male activity.”
Ashley now works as a coach and independent consultant, collaborating with a number of organizations and Wesleyan University.
THE ROMAN CODING GIRLS
Francesca Tavazza
Student, IIS Pacinotti-Archimede
The only way to change dreams is to work passionately and never give up!
Manuela Benedetti
Masters student in Multimedia Computing and Interaction, Sapienza University of Rome
I don’t stop working on a project until I feel that it is very user-friendly.
Loredana Cozzone
Student, IIS Pacinotti-Archimede
Coding has allowed me to discover how to be creative and logical at the same time.
Giorgia Di Tommaso
Masters student in Computer Science and PhD Scholarship winner, Sapienza University of Rome
I’m a coding girl. I love multimedia computing, interactivity and graphics.
