The women driving gender equality in science and technology are increasingly younger. The eighth edition of Coding Girls, organised by the Fondazione Mondo Digitale, addresses over 15,000 young women in 13 Italian Provinces, who are involved in peer education, mentoring and role modelling activities. The course, which is enriched with webinars and on-line training sessions, aims to develop an app with Thunkable and AI. The new edition also includes a special appointment: Cindy Rose, President of Microsoft, Western Europe, will meet with the Coding Girls in a role modelling session on Friday, Feb. 25 in Rome. The meeting will be decisive for the young women working on building their dreams beyond barriers.
Microsoft Italia, together with the United States Diplomatic Mission to Italy, is a key element in the alliance that promotes the project and involves schools and families together with companies, universities and public and private organisations.
This year, Coding Girls is amongst the 22 finalists of the first edition of the National Award for Digital Skills (an initiative promoted the Department for Digital Transformation in collaboration with Formez PA) in the “Digital Tools Against the Gender Divide” category.
Conceived to bring young women in closer touch with STEM subjects (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics), Coding Girls introduces the young women to stereotype-free choices. This is a strategic mission for the future of our country. As our Prime Minister Mario Draghi pointed out while visiting the INFN Gran Sasso Labs, “only one out of every five young women enrolled in Italian universities chooses STEM subjects, half the rate of men.”
In Italy, the gender divide, in terms of knowledge, is already evident in high school, but become critical at university. The European Institute for Gender Equality (EIGE) underlines that, in Italy, women still have a strong tendency to self-exclude themselves from STEM studies. They identify with stereotypes that portray them as not suited for science. If this cognitive bias is not challenged, it will lead to what is commonly referred to as a gender dream gap.
The risk is that women self-excluding themselves from these subjects in conjunction with the growing demand for digital and technological degrees will lead to an increase in female unemployment and gender pay gap. Therefore, the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (PNRR) represents a unique opportunity to finally recognise the role of women and girls in science, not just as beneficiaries, but also as agents of change.
PRESS KIT
8th Edition of Coding Girls
Coding Girls (project profile)
Coding Girls in Turin (project profile)
CO.ME.SE (project profile)
