Women, Girls & Tech: Building Engagement in Business and Learning
Most of us know the statistics. On average, women earn just 77 cents for every dollar a man earns. And only 24 percent of the science, technology, engineering and mathematics workforce is comprised of women. But maybe you are like me, and you think your gender hasn’t played as much of a role in your career trajectory.
I cut my professional teeth in a university teaching department that was led by women for the most part and in which women held the majority of positions. Somewhat conversely, I’ve worked in and on the edges of EdTech for the past couple of decades, and I’ve been in situations where men dominated the top of the chain of command and where men made up the majority of engineering teams. The women I knew and worked with ran complex learning design projects and marketing efforts. We all formed an ecosystem in which people played their part, jobs got done and gender was not a frequent topic of discussion.
Stay with me here. I’m building up to something.
Opportunities for Women in Tech
Recently, as I’ve explored edtech from a K-12 perspective, I’ve been introduced to women in very strong leadership positions, running companies that are considered to be the forefront of their field: Alex Meis, Co-Founder of Kinvolved; Maya Gat, CEO and Co-Founder of Branching Minds; Juliette LaMontagne, CEO and Founder of Breaker, to name a few.
So, I was a little surprised (not shocked) to hear that when the New York Tech Meetup (NYTM) group first started inviting people to demo, very few women were applying. For that reason, according to Executive Director Jessica Laurence, they started offering a Women’s Demo Night and were able to generate interest from women entrepreneurs.
NYTM is the largest Meetup group in the world, with about 44,000 members currently. At its latest Women’s Demo Night, hosted by Bloomberg and held at their Lexington Avenue headquarters, six women demoed products ranging from image collaboration software to addiction recovery. I encourage you to visit these sites, as there is very interesting work being done by all these companies.
Out of all of these, Blink Blink tells the best story of why and how we need to be purposeful in creating opportunities for girls and women in learning and in the workplace.
Getting Girls Excited about STEM One Circuit at a Time
Blink Blink is run by the dynamic duo of Nicole Messier and Joselyn McDonald. Messier is an aerospace engineer and McDonald is a filmmaker turned technology designer. The pair met in graduate school at Parsons School of Design. Their shared passions for technology and creativity resulted in a love for wearable tech and creative circuits. They channeled this into a means of getting more girls in tech and engineering by hosting workshops to explore crafting with technology and art.
Based on the success of these workshops, hosted by middle schools and high schools, Messier and McDonald decided to package the workshop materials into multi-project kits that kids can work on at home. The kit contains a creative circuit booklet, copper tape, conductive fabrics and thread, LEDs, crafting supplies and more. The craft kit enables individual users to make 10 different projects at a cost lower than would be required if consumers had to purchase the materials on their own.
Blink Blink has a great story to tell in terms of women in edtech and women creating engaging learning opportunities for girls in science and technology. They have participated in the innovative 4.0 Schools Accelerator Program, exhibited at SXSWedu, received the Maker Faire Editor’s Choice and Best in Class awards as well as the New Challenge Grant for Social Innovation. They are currently running a KickStarter campaign to fund production of their next round of creative circuitry kits.
Be Purposeful
Kudos to the NYTM for creating the Women’s Demo Event as well as the Women in Tech NYC group “to increase the number of women participating in New York’s technology industry.” Please visit the links above to learn more about all the companies that demoed at the event last week. Special thanks to the women of Blink Blink for making great strides towards social impact and for being purposeful in creating a company that will engage girls in learning about science in a fun, engaging and creative way.
Update: Blink Blink’s Kickstarter campaign ended successfully, raising $29,012 with 371 backers in June of this year. Visit their site to view and purchase one of their fantastic kits.
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