Codebreaker

Hillary Clinton wants to get more girls into tech

John Moe Jul 7, 2011

Hillary Clinton spoke about how women can capitalize on technology just as much as men. She announced a new initiative called “TechGirls”, which, according to The Hill (which covers Washington and is not merely slang for Hilary Clinton) “will bring teenage girls from the Middle East and North Africa for an intensive month of educational activities here in the United States. And since it seems like technology is evolving so fast, we actually think having this opportunity for young women is as important as having it for more mature women, because I think there’s a creativity that can be generated by doing that.” The first class of TechGirls will begin next year.

On a similar topic, Google senior exec., Marissa Mayer, gave a speech and shared her concerns about the relatively low number of women in technology. “‘The number one most important thing we can do to increase the number of women in tech is to show a multiplicity of different role models,’ Mayer said. ‘The stereotype of that very complete and rigid picture of what being a computer scientist means really hurts people’s understanding and ability to identify with the role and say, ‘”Yes, this is something I can be in and want to be in.'”

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