Coding is Freedom

08/10/2019

3 min.

For thousands of young women, the Coding Girls Movement is a social lever to plan a different future, free of conditioning, stereotypes and prejudice. The 6th edition of educational marathon that was presented at the American Embassy will stop in 14 cities and hold hackathons at universities to promote female talent and leadership and attract 10,000 young women to coding. The initiative, which was conceived to promote gender equality in the science and technology sectors, is promoted by the Fondazione Mondo Digitale and the United States Embassy in Italy in collaboration with Microsoft Italy. In Turin, the alliance with the “Compagnia di San Paolo” has transformed Coding Girls into a triennial city project.

According to the recent The Future of Women at Work Report by the McKinsey Global Institute, by 2030, 40 to 160 million women will have to consider a new job or gain new technological competences to avoid being excluded by the job market. To date, however, women represent only 20% of those employed in science and technology and 35% of STEM students.

An initiative that aims to accelerate the achievement of gender equality in the working world was presented on Ada Lovelace Day, a day dedicated to celebrating the first female coder in history. This is the sixth edition of Coding Girls, an initiative promoted by the Fondazione Mondo Digitale and the United States Embassy in Italy in collaboration with Microsoft Italy. After having involved 6000 young women in 2018, the programme launches a new challenge to 150 Coding Girls in high schools: train 10,000 peers by the end of the year. On November 5-22, guided by American Coaches Anthonette Peña and Emily Bradford, Computer Science experts, the young programmers will be involved in an educational marathon in over 60 schools in 14 Italian cities: Bari, Bologna, Cagliari, Catania, Milan, Naples, Palermo, Pisa, Pistoia, Reggio Calabria, Rome, Salerno, Turin and Trieste.

Thanks to the local commitment of the Coding Girls Association, the programme’s network is growing to include new alliances with both public and private subjects. Today, the association coordinates 25 hubs in schools and involves female university students and researchers from 13 Italian universities in mentoring and modelling activities for their younger peers. In collaboration with Microsoft Italy’s Ambizione Italia for Schools Programme, the students also learn about new professional opportunities related to the development of artificial intelligence. In Turin, in collaboration with the Compagnia di San Paolo, Coding Girls has become a triennial city project to orient and evaluate educational and professional opportunities for 600 young women aged 13-19. On October 5—20, the Coding Girls will participate in the seventh edition of Code Week in their schools.

PRESS KIT

Coding is Freedom