Ask HN: Tech ed for junior high, how (and how much) to encourage girls in tech? | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: Tech ed for junior high, how (and how much) to encourage girls in tech?

6 pointsanonymouspanda8 comments

Hi HN,

I'm part of a team working on tech programs for junior high in my country. As in many other countries, the tech industry here is characterized by very unequal gender representation, and we see the junior high programs as an opportunity to help bridge the gap. The difference is already apparent at the junior high stage - both the participation rates and retention rates are much lower for girls, and that's something we're trying to tackle. However there doesn't seem to be much knowledge on how to actually do this, and I haven't found relevant resources. Things I personally try to pay attention to when constructing the lessons / projects are choosing examples from diverse domains (e.g. not just focusing on computer games - giving examples from science, art, engineering etc.), and providing female role models in stories (e.g. not portraying hackers / computer scientists as male-only). However I'm not sure that's enough. On the other hand, I don't want to try too hard and achieve the opposite effect (patronizing etc.)

Any advice?

In case it's relevant, the organization developing the programs is non-profit, and the programs are partially / fully subsidized by the government for disadvantaged communities.

Thanks!

Some food for thought: in countries with higher overall gender equality (e.g. the most progressive countries in Western Europe), relatively few women end up in STEM. Conversely, in countries with lower gender equality (e.g. the Middle East, South Asia), large numbers of women end up in STEM [0].

From the article:

>It could have to do with the fact that women in countries with higher gender inequality are simply seeking the clearest possible path to financial freedom. And typically, that path leads through STEM professions.

>The upshot of this research is neither especially feminist nor especially sad: It’s not that gender equality discourages girls from pursuing science. It’s that it allows them not to if they’re not interested.

[0] https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2018/02/the-more...

Interesting - food for thought indeed!

Still (also from the article):

> Instead, this line of research, if it’s replicated, might hold useful takeaways for people who do want to see more Western women entering STEM fields. In this study, the percentage of girls who excelled in science or math was still larger than the number of women who were graduating with STEM degrees. That means there’s something in even the most liberal societies that’s nudging women away from math and science, even when those are their best subjects. The women-in-STEM advocates could, for starters, focus their efforts on those would-be STEM stars.

How do you find those would-be STEM stars? How do you encourage them to pursue STEM?

Like women are not smart enough to decide for themselves what they want to do. They need some nerd to tell them that they should be spending their working lives programming software for some big corp.

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I studied math and physics at uni and met many smart women, many smarter than me. And some of those went on to be programmers and literally all of them (sample size around 15), moved on from programming very soon after. And all gave the same reason: they just do not like programming all day and want to have more interaction with people as part of their job/career. Many are still in tech, but not as programmers. These women came back to give recruiting speeches at the uni where I now work, so this is their official word on the matter.

I personally would really like to have more women in tech, because frankly the sausage fest gets tiring. But at the same time, I find the whole idea of trying to force a gender to do something they seemingly do not want to do, quite bizarre. Hospitals have no problem recruiting female surgeons, nor law firms recruiting female lawyers.

Programming is the new accounting. It is a very boring job for people who lack social skills. Women do not like that because they tend to have better social skills than us men, and they want to use them. In particular they want to leverage their social skills to advance their careers, something that as a programmer, does not come into play as much as for example being in sales or being a project manager.

Something I've noticed with my nieces as they were in that age range was usage of social media. Maybe have a project where they build a chat application? Its kind of a universal communication tool that spans many industries and gives opportunities to exercise basic CompSci up to more advanced topics if they progress further. You could have a sample of exercises to choose from which interest anyone - coding how an emoji works and creating their own emoji perhaps.

To encourage better interactions in the classroom, award points to students for helping others (with guardrails against collusion). Maybe do guest spots in Math classes to maybe spark more interest, kids excelling in Math might like writing code to solve their homework.

Any historical perspectives should definitely include Ada Lovelace: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ada_Lovelace

Great suggestions, thanks!

I would not put any effort toward it.

I have done some charity work in Benin and Thailand before, with the goal of teaching basic and fun computer science for kids and teenager.

I do it with my own money and time.

My goal is to show up, entertain, try to inspire and get them curious, and possibly become a mentor if few of the kids show high interest.

My goal is not to seek people who are not showing up.

Just treat everyone fairly. This includes girls of course.

I would try to dig deeply into the root causes for lower enrollment and retention. If you discover unequal treatment, target that.

Don't

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