— Reshma Saujani, founder and CEO of Girls Who Code, in an article in Scientific American describing how and why she started the “movement” that has taught more than 40,000 girls ages 13 to 17 all across the U.S. how to program.
She says, “We believe that bringing more women into the innovation economy of today and tomorrow is a critical step toward increased economic growth and opportunity.”
Reshma was inspired to create the Girls Who Code initiative after a run for Congress took her to hundreds of schools and computer labs that were almost always filled with boys “clambering along a new path to the American Dream.” She says she wondered, “Where are the girls?”
She lost the election but in 2010 decided to try her hand at solving the gender gap. She started with 20 girls and for seven weeks taught them to code. She calls what happened “magical.” The girls not only became adept at coding, they felt a sense of sisterhood and saw new paths for themselves.