Girls Who Code is Closing the Gender Gap in India

BOSTON, Massachusetts — In 2021, a World Economic Forum report revealed that 156 countries still have to close the 32.3% remaining in the global gender gap, predicting that the gap will take just over 135 years to eliminate. Across the world, women only make up 35% of students in higher education studying science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM), according to UNESCO. The international nonprofit organization, Girls Who Code, believes that closing the STEM gender gap is vital to eliminating the global gender gap. The organization began its work one decade ago and after seeing major success it expanded to India in 2019. Girls Who Code has set out to close the country’s gender gap and show that women, girls and nonbinary people can be computer scientists too.

Origins & Philosophy

Reshma Saujan, a lawyer and politician, founded Girls Who Code in an effort to solve the global gender gap and increase diversity in computer science workplaces, as well as make computer programs more representative of the public that uses them. The organization provides resources and computer science education to girls and young nonbinary people. Girls Who Code focuses on partnering with schools as a way to promote computer science to girls at a young age. More than half the students who participate in the organization’s programs are girls of color and come from low-income backgrounds.