How Do We Get More Women in Tech? Raise Awareness, Relentlessly.

March 2019 marks the 32nd official Women’s History Month. As Chief Operating Officer at Flatiron School, a global institution teaching Software Engineering, Data Science, and UX/UI Design to students around the world, I’m using this time to celebrate how far we, as an institution, have moved the needle toward gender parity in tech; to reflect on how much is still left to accomplish; and to re-energize myself with the potential for a bright future for more women tech leaders.

We’ve done so much, as a global tech community and at Flatiron School, to welcome and train more women for gratifying careers as technologists. Last year we re-launched our Women Take Tech initiative to bring more women into our school and flood the tech community with a new generation of powerful women engineers, data scientists, and digital designers. Through our efforts, in 2018 alone, we distributed hundreds of thousands of dollars in scholarships and enrolled hundreds of women in Flatiron School programs.

That’s worth celebrating. But, the reality is we have much more to do. While our online programs are currently at gender parity, 28% of NYC campus students in our latest job outcomes report were women. While that’s above the percentage of women with computer science bachelors degrees nationally (19.1% in 2017), and the percentage of women represented in professional computing occupations in the U.S. (26% in 2017), we’re simply not satisfied. 

And neither should the larger business community. In fact, the very health of our economy depends on getting more women into our leadership ranks. According to Harvard Business School researchers, firms that support gender diversity will outlast their competitors. As a school and edtech leaders—we have to do more. We won’t be successful—as a school, a business, or a global community—until we have more women passing through our halls and entering the tech workforce.

Over the years, I’ve spoken about three pillars we think about at Flatiron School for driving gender parity in tech: awareness, confidence, and access. We can drive awareness through headlines and statistics, but we can also do it through storytelling.

This Women’s History Month, we’re showing women that they belong in tech by illuminating the stories of women tech trailblazers. Trailblazers like Katherine Johnson, a mathematician whose calculations of orbital mechanics helped NASA successfully launch manned space missions. In fact, women have been trailblazing new roads lined with technology since the 1800's. You probably know Ada Lovelace and Grace Hopper, but there are so many more women with amazing contributions. At Flatiron School, we are helping a new generation of trailblazers like alumna Marie, Hannah, and Jessica who were conditioned to think women didn’t belong in tech but who refused to succumb to imposter syndrome and now enjoy fulfilling and lucrative careers as software engineers at Vimeo, Spotify, and 2U.

This month, with the support of SeatGeek, we’re sounding the alarm that more women are not only needed in technology fields and belong in these roles, but that the health of our businesses depend on it. SeatGeek shares our commitment to empowering women and is working with us to reach a 50/50 gender representation in tech by offering the 50/50 Scholarship: $200,000 in scholarship opportunities for women who are ready to take the leap and make our tech workforce healthier, more creative, more profitable, and more impactful.

It starts with awareness of the opportunity in tech and an authentic invitation to join the industry. Flatiron School is a division of the We Company, where if you’re feeling lost or if you don’t know your place in the world, we welcome you with open arms. We’re here to bolster you up and help you knock down the walls standing in your way. Today, I invite all women to come to Flatiron School and kick start your journey in an industry where you are desperately needed and where you belong.