Close your eyes and try to picture a computer scientist. Who
comes to mind? A geeky Anthony Michael Hall in Weird Science? Robert Downey Jr. in the Iron Man lair with his
homemade gadgets? Whoever it is, chances are you’re thinking of a man right
now—and that’s a problem.
The sad truth is that fewer than one in five computer
science graduates is female, and of that small number, many drop out of the
field after just a few years. Not only is that bad for girls—jobs in science,
technology, engineering, and math (STEM) fields pay about 33 percent more than
non-STEM jobs, and computer science jobs are among some of the more lucrative
out there—but it’s also bad for society as a whole.
Think about it: technology isn’t a niche field anymore. So
many disciplines, from medicine to city planning and even fashion design, rely
on computer code these days—and if it’s mainly men writing that code, that
means women’s ideas aren’t being represented, utilized, and turned into the
great innovations that they could be. Study after study shows that diversity
helps companies and entire industries go farther and achieve bigger things, and
that absolutely counts for computer science as well.
Girls need to be exposed to the fun, exciting world of
computer science so they can have a direct impact on the twenty-first-century world
we live in; and all of us need girls
in computer science so that we can benefit from their creativity, problem
solving, and general drive to make our world a better place.
That’s why Girl Scouts is thrilled to be a part of Google’s
Made with Code initiative, which is helping millions of girls learn coding
basics. If there’s a girl in your life, and you want her to have the brightest
future possible, check out our free Made
with Code party kit. It comes complete with super fun activities (Mixbeats! Make an animated GIF!) you and your group can complete even if you, as
the host, have zero experience with computer science. Who knows, you might
learn a thing or two yourself!