Celebrating our Hackergals on International Women’s Day
With the World Economic Forum’s 2017 Global Gender Gap Report findings telling us that gender parity is over 200 years away — there has never been a more important time for the public and private sectors to come together to make a difference in the lives of young girls.
One industry vastly underrepresented with women is the technology industry. Hackergal, a non-profit organization in Canada, was created to break down these barriers focusing its mission on exposing as many middle school-aged girls to computer science as possible. Founded by entrepreneurs Ray Sharma and Lucy Ho in 2015, with support from Extreme Venture Partners, Hackergal has grown its reach beyond Toronto into other cities across Canada!
Why Middle School?
Through a series of pilot projects, Hackergal discovered a lack of interest and understanding about computer science among young girls as early grade 6; thus creating a gender gap in this area as early as high school — when computer science electives are generally first offered.
Linking arms within the Canadian education system and partnering with Canada’s corporate community, Hackergal is making a positive impact on girls as young as 9 years-old encouraging them to learn code and empowering girls to be part of the technology industry. Hackergal exposes girls to code in a classroom setting via a one-day Hackathon with zero costs to teachers, parents and girls.
“Women are vastly underrepresented in the tech industry all over the world. My hope is that with encouragement like this, more girls and young women will gain confidence in science, technology, engineering and math, and pursue educational and career choices in these fascinating and growing fields. As I told these inspiring girls, the world needs more Hackergals!” — Minister Scott Brison.
Today we celebrate our Hackergal educators and the girls that are taking strides to close the gender gap in the technology industry. The Hackergal story is best told by the educators and the students who we are proud to call Hackergals!
I Am Hackergal…
“Hackergal made me excited because before the hackathon I really didn’t know anything about coding but now that I’ve done it, I really want to do it again!” — Mackenzie, Grade 6
I Am Hackergal…
“Some of the most amazing things I’ve seen the girls accomplish through Hackergal is collaboration, problem-solving, discovering new things, and having a sense of joy and accomplishment when they realize they’ve made something happen on the computer.” — Natalie Bishop/Educator
I Am Hackergal…
“Hackergal has made me excited to take Computer Science classes. I’d never done coding before the hackathon and surprisingly it is extremely fun. I’m excited to do more in the future!” — Ocean, Grade 6
I Am Hackergal…
As an educator, I feel like it is very important for us to foster creativity and the ability to problem solve at a young age. It is our job to make sure girls are ready for this aspect of the world and that they have the skills and confidence to be successful as adults.” — Nicole MacLaren/Educator
I Am Hackergal…
“I would recommend Hackergal and the hackathon to other girls because no matter what you like to do it appeals to you. If you like math or science or art or if you like solving riddles, it is really fun.” — Sabrina, Grade 6
I Am Hackergal…
“The Hackergal Hackathon has been a beautiful consolidation for our Grade 6 students. The girls have been exposed to coding at an entry level and as a result we have seen a building in confidence, risk-tasking and collaboration.” — Denise Gotell/Principal
