7 Reasons Why Businesswomen Should Learn How To Code
Photo By Benjamin Child/Unsplash.
With International Women’s Day just around the corner, people across the globe are celebrating the social, economic, cultural, and political progress the world has made for women today. Advocates are also speaking up for female empowerment to close the gender gaps that remain. GBC-Education partner and British charity Theirworld is asking supporters to share how they are #RewritingTheCode for girls throughout all stages of their lives. In that spirit, we’re counting down 7 reasons why businesswomen should not only learn to code, but support making coding education accessible to girls around the world now.
1. You can’t deny the facts: Only 12 percent of all computer science degrees are held by girls. And, despite the surge in computing-related jobs, without more children (especially girls) studying computer science, 70 percent of those jobs will remain unfulfilled. If all women prioritized #RewritingTheCode for females and technology, then more girls would consider it a viable career path earlier on in their education.
2. Have a daughter? A niece? Think of all the adolescent girls in your life. Who are you to advocate for the importance of becoming well versed in science and technology if you can’t even troubleshoot an iOS update? Also, think of the time it takes to be your parents tech service provider, and then think of who in the future will be teaching you to program those flying cars we were promised.
3. High school girls who study advanced computer science are ten times more likely to major in it, opening the door to a career path where they can earn 40 percent more than their peers. Although it’s unlikely you would change careers at this point, you’re sure that having a working knowledge of coding could allow you to collaborate more with tech-savvy colleagues.
4. You can code your own website! Having your own personal webpage created by yours truly could go a long way to impress new employers, your social network, and help you find interesting and meaningful work. Try platforms like Wix, Squarespace, or WordPress to start. Not to mention, that even if you don’t want to be the one doing the programming, it helps when you can speak the same language as your designers…you just have to choose if you’re speaking SQL, Python, C++, or any of the other exciting new “dialects” out there.
5. Not to mention, Jess Scot-Lewis was right: “If there’s more diversity in problem-solving, more diverse problems will be solved.” The lack of diversity in the tech industry is contemptible. Despite being highly qualified, women are passed over for positions or aren’t getting recognized.
6. Plus you can’t deny that most powerful women in business have a serious thing for STEM. Women can code just as well as men! And let’s work together to reflect that in more opportunities and in paychecks!
So knowing all this you are ready to take the plunge…
Just in case you needed more convincing:
7. Learning how to code means, after all the jumble of carrot codes and error codes, you’ll not only be proud of all the new projects you can plan, but you’ll also be proud of those barriers you just helped break. Thanks to your determination–the next generation of girl leaders has a better chance of being the bosses of their own lives and their own companies.
250 million kids around the world today still cannot read or write let alone use a computer. Girls are particularly marginalized. Join the movement to educate the world’s 63 million out-of-school girls by sharing what you believe to be the embedded value in #RewritingTheCode for girls.