A New Generation
DigiGirlz has given thousands of young women the opportunity to learn about career choices in the technology business.
American brainpower is the basis for the nation’s leadership in today’s global, high-tech economy. Our future competitiveness is threatened, however, because we increasingly lag far behind many of our economic rivals in one vitally important respect: in attracting young people to study science, technology, engineering and mathematics.
This problem is particularly acute among young women. Despite the many, varied career opportunities available in information technology, for example, relatively few female students prepare to pursue them.
According to the National Center for Women & Information Technology, girls make up fewer than 15 percent of all high school students who take the Advanced Placement exam in computer science — less than in any other subject. Women earned only 21 percent of computer science bachelor’s degrees awarded in 2006, down from 36 percent in 1983.
Experts offer many explanations: limited awareness of technology careers, stereotypes about people who work in the field, few women mentors and a lack of encouragement for girls to take science and math courses.
Whatever the cause, women’s limited participation in the information technology workforce contributes to a dire scarcity of qualified professionals. Women’s absence also hinders the development of technology innovations that meet the full range of human needs.
Helping to reverse this trend is the goal of Microsoft’s DigiGirlz program. Over the past eight years, DigiGirlz has provided more than 3,700 high school girls with opportunities to learn, up close, about the wide range of career choices available in technology businesses — and to see the important contributions that women bring to the workplace through their diverse viewpoints, creativity, unique talents and ability to work collaboratively.
This year, at 16 day-long workshops and seven multi-day camps held around the country — including metropolitan Washington, DC — DigiGirlz participants will get first-hand experience of what it’s like to develop cutting-edge technology.
The multi-day camps are organized and run by Microsoft employee volunteers. Campers participate in product demonstrations and tours of technology labs. They take part in hands-on workshops where they’re introduced to computer skills such as programming in HTML and Visual Basic, product design, graphic design and résumé building. And they get to shadow employees whose work matches their interests.
Most of all, the DigiGirlz experience encourages girls to explore their talents and consider the many opportunities open to them. For some attendees, it’s a revelation.
“I learned so much about technology, but more about how people can achieve professions that they love and enjoy,” said one. “Everyone’s enthusiasm about their professions inspired me to find what I love and pursue it — not only in technology, but in life.”
