We Support Gender Equality and Diversity in Tech
The future is digital and women cannot be left out
Did you know that more than 60% of positions in tech and sciences in Europe are held by men? Even though efforts are made to engage women in those fields, a gender gap still exists. We’re shifting to a digitalised world, where technological skills and knowledge are increasingly needed. The future is digital and women cannot be left out. The Brussels Binder supports women with diverse expertise and the development of their digital skills.
This is why during our crowdfunding event in March, one of the raffle prizes was an opportunity to participate at a workshop led by Code it Like a Girl.
Breaking the stereotypes
On Sunday, September 4, Virginia Marantidou, member of The Brussels Binder, together with Maria Dermentzi and Anastasia Siapka from Code it Like a Girl, organized a workshop on coding, where a group had the opportunity to learn basic coding language. The workshop was hosted at the European Centre for International Political Economy (ECIPE).
The workshop was very practical, dynamic, and fun. The instructors, Anastasia and Maria, started the session talking about diversity in tech. Grace Hooper, a US Navy admiral and pioneer on programming, and Karlie Kloss, a top model and software engineering activist, were some of the examples. For them, breaking the stereotypes on who can be a computer scientist is crucial to engage women into the tech field.
They explained the basics of HTML language and participants started to code their own personal website through a free program. The second part of the workshop focused on CSS language, with which participants coded and created their website according to their personal style and taste. By the end of the session, everyone had created a two-page personal website!
Everyone can code
Participants not only learnt the basics of coding, but also a very important lesson: that everyone can code. No matter the gender or ethnicity, anyone is able to code and develop their digital skills. In fact, despite the existing stereotypes on who is or can be an IT expert, there are many examples of people with very different backgrounds and identities in the tech field.