Girls in Tech

Last updated
Girls in Tech
IndustryGlobal Non-Profit
Founded2007 (2007)
Founders Adriana Gascoigne
Defunct2024 (announced)
Headquarters,
United States
Key people
Adriana Gascoigne
(Founder, CEO)
Website girlsintech.org

Girls in Tech was a global non-profit organization focused on the engagement, education, and empowerment of women in technology. [1] Founded in 2007 by Adriana Gascoigne, the organization had grown from San Francisco to more than 50 chapters located in North America, Europe, Asia, The Middle East, Africa, and South America. [2] [3] On July 8, 2024 the CEO announced they would be closing due to lack of funding. [4] It had 130,000 members across 38 countries.

Contents

History

Co-founder Adriana Gascoigne Adriana (4003589882).jpg
Co-founder Adriana Gascoigne

In February 2007, Gascoigne Launched Girls in Tech in San Francisco after noticing she was one of the only females at her tech company. [5]

In July 2008, the second chapter of Girls in Tech launched in Los Angeles. [6]

In December 2008, Girls in Tech New York launched. [7]

In January 2009, the first international chapter of Girls in Tech launched in London simultaneously with new chapters in Austin, Boston, and Portland. [8]

In April 2015, at a Girls in Tech conference in Phoenix, Tania Katan introduced "It Was Never a Dress", that re-imagined the generic symbol for a woman on bathroom signs as wearing a cape instead of a dress. [9]

As of July 2015, there were 47 chapters around the world. [10]

In January 2016, ESPN Women partnered with Girls in Tech for a Hackathon ahead of the Super Bowl. [11]

In May 2016, Girls in Tech partnered with Traction Labs to offer free San Francisco office space to women and minority entrepreneurs. [12]

In 2022 they moved their headquarters to Nashville from San Francisco.[ citation needed ]

On July 8, 2024, Girls in Tech announced on X that the organization was closing. [4]

Programs

In March 2021, Girls in Tech launched an initiative to end gender disparity in boardrooms. Dubbed "Half the Board: 50/50 by 2025," the initiative called upon organizations to commit to gender parity in their boardrooms by 2025. Half the Board: 50/50 by 2025 asked organizations and individuals to commit to taking action to ensure women comprise at least 50 percent of corporate boards in the technology industry. The effort included an open letter penned by Girls in Tech board members to tech leaders demanding gender parity by Dec. 24, 2024. The campaign launched as part of the organization's efforts supporting Women's History Month and International Women's Day, and Girls in Tech Founder and CEO Adriana Gascoigne wrote an op-ed that ran in Newsweek about the need for a "gender parity moonshot" that amplified the initiative. [13] [14]

Girls in Tech has created a number of programs to increase the number of women working in technology, including Global Classroom, an online learning platform that provides access to online courses and resources to improve knowledge in STEM related fields. [15] Other programs include the Amplify Pitch Competition, [16] Mentorship, [17] and tech job openings, amongst others. [18]

In October 2021, Girls in Tech teamed with Amazon Web Services (AWS) to get more women into public sector jobs through a mentorship and training initiative. [ citation needed ]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sarah Austin (entrepreneur)</span> American internet personality and entrepreneur (born 1986)

Sarah Maria Austin is an American author and tech entrepreneur. She is the CMO and co-founder of metaverse funding platform, QGlobe, and former CEO at Broad Listening, an artificial emotional intelligence agent. She is the chairperson of the board of directors at Coding FTW, a nonprofit organization that promotes diversity and equal rights in the technology sector.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cheryl Contee</span> American businessperson and blogger

Cheryl Contee is an American entrepreneur, CEO, blogger, and writer. She is co-founder and CEO of a digital marketing agency, Do Big Things. Before founding Do Big Things, Contee co-founded Fission Strategy and Attentive.ly. In 2019, Contee released her book, “Mechanical Bull", which details her history as a non-traditional startup founder. She received her B.A. from Yale University and has an International Executive M.B.A. from Georgetown University.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">AnitaB.org</span>

AnitaB.org is a global nonprofit organization based in Belmont, California. Founded by computer scientists Anita Borg and Telle Whitney, the institute's primary aim is to recruit, retain, and advance women in technology.

Solve for X was a community solution engagement project and think tank-like event launched by Google to encourage collaboration, solve global issues and support innovators. The "X" in the title represents a remedy that someone or a team is already pursuing which ran from 2012 to 2014.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Megan Smith</span> American engineer

Megan J. Smith is an American engineer and technologist. She was the third Chief Technology Officer of the United States and Assistant to the President, serving under President Barack Obama. She was previously a vice president at Google, leading new business development and early-stage partnerships across Google's global engineering and product teams at Google for nine years, was general manager of Google.org, a vice president briefly at Google[x] where she co-created WomenTechmakers, is the former CEO of Planet Out and worked as an engineer on early smartphones at General Magic. She serves on the boards of MIT and Vital Voices, was a member of the USAID Advisory Committee on Voluntary Aid and co-founded the Malala Fund. Today Smith is the CEO and Founder of shift7. On September 4, 2014, she was named as the third U.S. CTO, succeeding Todd Park, and serving until January, 2017.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Whurley</span> American tech entrepreneur

William Hurley, commonly known as whurley, is an American tech entrepreneur and investor who founded Chaotic Moon Studios, Honest Dollar, Strangeworks, Ecliptic Capital, and philanthropic efforts including CERN's Entrepreneurship Student Programme and Equals: The Global Partnership for Gender Equality in the Digital Age. He is an open source advocate and systems theorist, and is regularly interviewed by the press on technology and related topics.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">National Center for Women & Information Technology</span> Information Technology For Women

The National Center for Women & Information Technology (NCWIT) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that works to increase participation of girls and women in computing. NCWIT was founded in 2004 by Lucinda (Lucy) Sanders, Dr. Telle Whitney, and Dr. Robert (Bobby) Schnabel. NCWIT is headquartered in Boulder, Colorado at the University of Colorado Boulder. Lucy Sanders, who was inducted into the Women in Technology International Hall of Fame in 2007, is the current chief executive officer.

Women Who Code (WWCode) was an international non-profit organization that provides services for women pursuing technology careers and a job board for companies seeking coding professionals. The company aims to provide an avenue into the technology world by evaluating and assisting women in developing technical skills.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Girls Who Code</span> Nonprofit organization

Girls Who Code is an international nonprofit organization that aims to support and increase the number of women in computer science. Among its programs are a summer immersion program, a specialized campus program, after-school clubs, a college club, College Loops, and a series of books. The organization is based in New York and has programs in all of the United States, Canada, India, and the United Kingdom. As of 2022, there were more than 500,000 Girls Who Code alums.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Aileen Lee</span> American investor

Aileen Lee is a U.S. venture capital angel investor and co-founder of Cowboy Ventures.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tracy Chou</span> American software engineer

Tracy Chou is a software engineer and advocate for diversity in technology related fields. She previously worked at Pinterest and Quora with internship experience at Google and Facebook.

Louise O'Sullivan is an Irish telecommunications executive. She is the Founder and CEO of Anam Technologies, a Dublin-based firm which develops secure SS7 and SMS systems for mobile network operators. O'Sullivan entered the telecommunications field in 1995 and founded Anam Technologies in 1999. She left Anam in 2003 to start a family and, before returning in 2012, opened a restaurant, a music business, and a media firm. She is a vocal advocate for gender parity in the IT industry. In 2015 she was named one of the 50 Most Inspiring Women in European Tech by Inspiring Fifty.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Women in Animation</span> American non-profit organization

WIA is a non-profit organization with the purpose of furthering, promoting, and supporting female animators in the art, science and business of animation. WIA helps young female artists to find a place in the business world. WIA has chapters in Los Angeles, San Francisco, New York City, Dublin, Pune, and Toronto. WIA states that the lack of an equal number of women and men in the animation profession is because "there has been very little work to intentionally change the status quo." In order to help women assess the animation profession, WIA has created a mentorship program, a voice over group, a scholarship, talks, and events. The organization is currently led by its president, Margaret Dean.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Adriana Gascoigne</span> American technology executive and activist

Adriana Gascoigne is an American technology executive and activist, the founder and Chief Executive Officer of Girls in Tech, a global non-profit dedicated to empowering, educating, and mentoring women in the technology industry.

Carol Elizabeth Reiley is an American business executive, computer scientist, and model. She is a pioneer in teleoperated and autonomous robot systems in surgery, space exploration, disaster rescue, and self-driving cars. Reiley has worked at Intuitive Surgical, Lockheed Martin, and General Electric. She co-founded, invested in, and was president of Drive.ai, and is now CEO of a healthcare startup, a creative advisor for the San Francisco Symphony, and a brand ambassador for Guerlain Cosmetics. She is a published children's book author, the first female engineer on the cover of MAKE magazine, and is ranked by Forbes, Inc, and Quartz as a leading entrepreneur and influential scientist.

Women in Technology International (WITI) is an organization promoting the achievements of women in technology and extending support, opportunities, and inspiration. It was founded by Carolyn Leighton in 1989 as the International Network of Women in Technology. It was renamed to the WITI Professional Association in 2001 when it acted as a trade association for women in technology.

5050x2020 is a hashtag used to campaign for gender parity in the film industry. The campaign was launched by the Swedish Film Institute at the Cannes Film Festival in 2016.

Dogpatch Labs is a startup and innovation hub situated in the Silicon Docks area of Dublin. The company's headquarters are located in the CHQ building. Dogpatch Labs consists of over 500 members from 100+ startups.

Sadaffe Abid is a social entrepreneur from Karachi, Pakistan and the former COO and CEO of Kashf Foundation. She is the founder of tech-organization CIRCLE, and its current CEO. She is also a Vice Chairperson of Pakistan Microfinance Network.

Naia Butler-Craig is a science communicator and an American aerospace engineer.

References

  1. "10 Women in Tech Orgs You Should Know". The Huffington Post. 27 September 2013. Retrieved 27 September 2013.
  2. "How 'Girls In Tech Indonesia' is Aiming to Engage and Inspire". Tech In Asia. Retrieved 27 July 2011.
  3. "Girls in Tech: Engaging Women in The Tech Space". The Huffington Post. Retrieved 24 July 2014.
  4. 1 2 "Girls in Tech shutting down due to lack of funding". www.bizjournals.com. Retrieved 2024-07-10.
  5. "Adriana Gascoigne on How Girls in Tech Can Get Women to Infiltrate Silicon Valley". VentureBeat. 4 September 2015. Retrieved 4 September 2015.
  6. "Hard Out There for a Chick: Girls in Tech Starts L.A. Chapter". Los Angeles Times. 18 July 2008. Retrieved 18 July 2008.
  7. "No Men Allowed: Girls in Tech Expands to New York, LA, And Beyond". Silicon Valley Watcher. Retrieved 4 December 2008.
  8. "What's It Like To Be a Girl in Tech". Fast Company. 19 January 2009. Retrieved 19 January 2009.
  9. "The Women's Bathroom Sign You Can't Unsee (And Won't Want To)". The Huffington Post. 30 April 2015. Retrieved 30 April 2015.
  10. "Girls in Tech: Engaging Women in The Tech Space". The Huffington Post. Retrieved 24 July 2014.
  11. "espnW Presents: Girls in Tech Super Football App Challenge". ESPN. 15 January 2016. Retrieved 15 January 2016.
  12. "Silicon Valley Marketing Tech Firm Offers Free Office Space to Women and Minority Entrepreneurs". VentureBeat. 12 May 2016. Retrieved 12 May 2016.
  13. "'Half the Board': Demanding Gender Parity in Tech Boardrooms by 2025 - Ms. Magazine". 6 March 2021.
  14. "Time for a gender parity 'moonshot' in tech boardrooms | Opinion". Newsweek . 24 March 2021.
  15. "Girls in Tech Launches The Global Classroom". Dev Battles. Archived from the original on 16 August 2016. Retrieved 5 February 2007.
  16. "It's Time For Women with Great Ideas to Ignite Their Company's Visibility and Growth". Vator.tv. Retrieved 18 November 2011.
  17. "Top Five Women Tech Organizations: Building Networks and Bridging the Gap". The Huffington Post. 12 June 2012. Retrieved 12 June 2012.
  18. "Women in Technology: No Progress on Inequality for 10 Years". The Guardian. 14 May 2014. Retrieved 14 May 2014.