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Girls in a tech world
September 2, 2011
Did you know? Only 11% of computer science (CS) undergraduate degree recipients in 2009 at major research universities were women. And, between 2000 and 2009, there has been a 79% decline in the number of first-year undergraduate women who say they are interested in majoring in CS. As a
BOLD
intern on the K-12 education outreach team this summer, one of my projects was to create a video that inspires girls to pursue CS. With the help of two other K-12 interns (Jackie Palma & Tessa Pompa) and our on-campus film studio, we produced “Girls in a Tech World: Endless Possibilities of Computer Science”.
We wanted to reach girls of all ages, not just those who are in the midst of choosing a major. Research shows that girls have many inaccurate stereotypes about CS that begin long before they reach college and also that they are rarely encouraged to pursue CS.
To cast the video, we sought out charismatic young women engineers at Google. Often, the way engineers are depicted in the media serves as a discouraging factor because girls look at the characters and think, “That doesn’t look like me …”—we wanted them to see role models who do look like themselves.
We recently pre-screened the video to a diverse group of 13-year old girls. They told us they found the video empowering and inspiring, which gave us the confidence and encouragement to post the video on YouTube and circulate it widely.
Check out
“Girls in a Tech World”
to hear awesome female engineers talking about why they love their jobs and their advice for you. We hope that this video will inspire girls all over the world, especially those who may have had misconceptions or felt discouraged about CS. Enjoy, and please pass it along!
Posted by Rukayat Giwa, BOLD Intern, K-12 Education Outreach
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