Taking Computer Science Education for Girls Global

with Michele Giordano, Senior Director of International Expansion

Girls Who Code is a nonprofit organization aiming to support and increase the number of women in computer science by equipping young women with the necessary computing skills to pursue 21st century opportunities. Endless supports Girls Who Code as it aims to serve more girls around the world.

Michele Giordano

The mission of extending computer science education for girls beyond the US’s borders entwined two of Michele Giordano’s passions.

“Helping women be able to break glass ceilings and be in an industry that otherwise has been really locked for them,” she says was an intriguing challenge, but being able to marry her global experience to the Girls Who Code mission by helping the organization spread their vision to Canada, the UK, India, and soon, Jordan, made it even more appealing. 

A little more than a year ago, Girls Who Code took the plunge into international programming, marking the next major milestone for the organization that started with 20 girls in 2012 and has since served 185,000 girls. 

“Every country is different. And every time we go into a new country, we have to create a slightly different model.” Understanding the particular problem in each country is key, she says. The challenges in CS education for girls and women in the UK, for example, where CS training for teachers is common and there's a market for many coding platforms, is very different than in India. In the UK, Girls Who Code has focused on ensuring that especially girls, ages 11 to 18, have appropriate access. “That's where we really know that we have an opportunity to engage girls at a younger age to be excited about CS and bring it into their lives and their passion.” 

India; however, is different. Though computer science majors are very common, especially out of the major cities, and CS and engineering degrees are very high-value, women often drop out of the workforce once they enter it, a problem which Michele thinks can be addressed in part by giving girls access earlier in their lives so they can build skill and interest. Another major element of the organization’s work in India includes identifying the most underprivileged populations and finding ways to get the organization's resources to them. Partnering with local communities and schools is a big part of this strategy. 

“There are a lot of key community organizations and initiatives that are working on coding and CS education. And so we are really thrilled to be working alongside them and trying to support the efforts that they've already been working on there.”

Fine-tuning the model to each country takes time. Girls Who Code also carries out surveys and takes feedback from girls and Club facilitators to help adapt and ensure the model is working in each country. “That's an ongoing process,” Michele says, “And that takes a lot of time because we're constantly iterating on the process.” But she says the common theme among all the programs is the group’s philosophy, and their specific intentionality around being girl-first programming. 

Girls Who Code is also in the process of expanding to their next country. With the support of Endless, GWC is kicking off a pilot in Jordan this year where they'll be translating their curriculum into Arabic, and looking closely at how to reach the refugee community, especially girls between the ages of 14 to 18. Michele says these girls can be the pioneers in their families and communities by being part of Girls Who Code Clubs, which are the first Girls Who Code program to be introduced in all these countries.

“Our Clubs program is our grassroots-driven model for girls 11 to 18.” Michele says the curriculum for the clubs is highly flexible and adaptable, making it the ideal program to spearhead the shift abroad. The club curriculum is available both online, is largely self-led, and works as a 10 to 15 week program led by a facilitator who doesn’t need a computer science background. The international Clubs program is extremely successful-- Girls Who Code boasts over 700 Clubs across Canada, the U.K. and India. 

Beyond making the programs physically and culturally accessible to girls and women in each locality, Michele says there’s also a bigger picture to which Girls Who Code is hoping to offer participants access. 

“We're in a global economy, and tech jobs are global. We know people aren't in tech jobs in one country for their entire career, people are moving to other regions of the world and other regions within their regions to land tech jobs. Or within the same company, you can be given an opportunity to do that work in another region of the world.” The tech gender gap, Michele says, is as common in the rest of the world as well as the US, posing an enormous equity challenge. “It means that girls are being held back in every country from the highest paying, fastest growing jobs in the global economy.” Girls and women need to have a seat in the global economy, she says, and building that diversity pipeline is important to global companies as well. 

Girls Who Code is not only thinking about connecting girls to future jobs, but also to each other. 

“We have a lot of ideas on the horizon around how we want to connect clubs globally and what that looks like. And I think... There'll be a lot of ways we try to get girls connected around the world.”