below University education can name one. Grace Hopper, born in 1906 developed the first compiler for a programming language which lead to the creation of COBOL, one of the first high level languages ever created – granted, unless you were already interested in technology you probably wouldn’t have known about her either, but why? I’m sure everyone reading this article has heard of the popular auction site eBay? A woman named Meg Whitman has been the CEO of eBay since 1988, and took the company from having 30 employees to having over 9000 worldwide at the time of her resignation in late 2007. Harvard Business Review named her the eighth-best-performing CEO of the past decade. Surely people who take business studies know about Whitman’s overwhelming success? I highly doubt it.
My basic knowledge of computer programming languages? Sure I was able to discuss the benefits of using HTML to design web pages, but I didn’t actually know how to use HTML. The UK Government actually improved the computing curriculum in 2014 to contain programming fundamentals, but made it optional so the schools are not even required to teach the revised sections. Even if the computing classes of today did teach practical skills, this doesn’t mean anyone would enjoy the process of learning about them. Therefore are we forced to take a different approach and turn to social media and television for this type of education? Trying to make technology more applicable to the modern teenager seems like a monumental task, although a large percentage of young girls
“Initially the men in charge had assumed that women were incapable of operating the Bombe cryptanalysis machines and later the Colossus code-breaking computers – until a group of Women’s Royal Naval Service (Wrens) were brought in.”
these days use applications such as Facebook and Twitter, they are never stimulated during the educational process to think about what actually goes in to the creation of the services they are using. It seems like the media refuse to report on the successes of females within the technology industry. Research from Accenture conducted in April 2015 reports that 60% of 12 year-old girls in the UK and Ireland believe that STEM subjects are too difficult to learn.[1] During my internship at GE Aviation I am volunteering in the Girls Get Set programme, which aims to go into schools and work with groups of girls in Years 7 – 12 and show them the wonders of technology. Using readily available equipment such as Arduinos, we will end up working alongside the girls on a technological project based on a specific theme such as the Olympic Games, where they will have to build and program a robot using Lego Mindstorms to compete in different events. My goal for the future is to see more girls coming into STEM subjects and being able to showcase their true potential without feeling as if they are going to be surpassed by men or ignored by history when they achieve something amazing. I am proud to be part of the ever changing industry that is Computer Science and Software Engineering, and I hope the girls of the future generations will be too.
Commissioned by Accenture and conducted by Loudhouse, a specialist research division of the Octopus Group, the online research covered a total of 1,571 girls of secondary school age (11-18) and 2,509 young women (19-23) across the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland. Samples of 535 parents and 112 teachers were also taken to determine the influencing factors for girls in their academic subject choices. [1]
However, maybe teaching young girls about powerful women in the industry won’t convince them to take interest in engineering? What about computing classes in general? My personal experience of ICT GCSE and A-Level IT was more than a miserable one. For 3 hours a week I was tasked with creating a basic spreadsheet and documenting the evidence, compiling it into a word processed document to get my grade. For one part of my A-Level I remember spending 6 weeks learning about what is required to make an online shopping service and what guidelines a code of conduct should contain. This is where the problem lies. I was taught nothing about practical uses of technology. Where is my basic networking? The European Women In Construction & Engineering Awards
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