While
philanthropist Melinda Gates spends much of her time working with the
Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation on ways to resolve and prevent global
health crises, she has also brought attention to the lack of women and
minorities in the industry where she started her professional career:
technology.
"Innovation
happens when we approach urgent challenges from every different point
of view. Bringing women and underrepresented minorities into the field
guarantees that we see the full range of solutions to the real problems
that people face in the world," Gates said on Monday to kick off her
partnership with Code.org's "
Hour of Code
" initiative, part of the annual
Computer Science Education Week
.
During
her remarks, Gates called computer literacy an "essential skill" and
said computer science has the power to change lives and change the
world."The more we encourage different kinds of people to get interested
in technology the better that future will be," Gates said. "One of the
reasons
I'm
so optimistic about the future is tech can make the impossible
possible, but only if we're all involved in the effort. That's what CS
education is all about."
As a
Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing
keynote
speaker in October, Gates used her computer programming expertise to
reveal the problem with how women are currently led onto a career path
in tech and the simple solution to improve inclusion.
"Right
now, a lot of diversity efforts focus on women getting into the
so-called 'pipeline' but that pipeline isn't producing more than a
trickle and has a lot of conditionals built in, a lot of 'if-then'
statements, " Gates said.In other words, Gates emphasized how women are
bound to an impractical amount of constraints that don't allow them to
successfully enter the tech world. She compared these constraints to a
term in the JavaScript programming language called "conditional
statements," which look like this when coded:
Examples Gates gave of those conditionals in women's' lives include:
Ifyou
get girls to take the right computer science and math classes in high
school,thenthey'll succeed in their computer science classes in
college.Ifthey pass intro,thenthey will start their second-year courses
on time and graduate in four yearsIfthey do that,thenthey can get their
job in Silicon Valley.But Gates pointed out that "not everyone is going
to meet those conditions and many don't want to and there's no reason
they have to in the first place." She proposed that society instead
begin from the "premise that people get interested in computing in
different ways, at different times in their lives and for very different
reasons.""Or to put it in coding terms, why not stop trying to get
girls to meet the necessary conditions for each predetermined 'if-then'
statement and why not start writing a series of for-loops," Gates said,
introducing yet another JavaScript term.JavaScript for-loops essentially
repeats through a particular block of code a given number of times.
Here is the example line of code Gates shared during her
presentation:These are the four steps Gates said she would like to see
implemented with women as explained as for-loops:Reach them earlyFor
girls growing up,
let's
create plenty of pathways to explore tech inside and outside the classroom.
Tech as a toolFor
women who are already in college,
let's
make it clear that tech is a tool for solving real-world problems.
Combine computingFor
women
already majoring in some other field, let's offer programs that combine
computing with the rest of their coursework and lead to the degrees in
things like bioinformatics.
Not just four years
For
women who discover their passion for tech at different times and different places,
let's
open up more pathways into the field.
"All
of this comes down to the same point: For anyone and everyone who has
talents and interest, there should be a way into tech," Gates said. "
This is a transformative moment for women, men, tech and the future."
"Women
did not create the barriers in tech and we cannot break them down all
alone. Male allies are absolutely critical in this work and we'll need
more of them. But we can lead the way."
Like this story?
Like CNBC Make It on Facebook
.
Don't miss:
Harvard
researchers say this mental shift will help you live a longer,
healthier lifeWhy Tim Ferriss says hearing the word 'no' sets you up for
success
While
philanthropist Melinda Gates spends much of her time working with the
Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation on ways to resolve and prevent global
health crises, she has also brought attention to the lack of women and
minorities in the industry where she started her professional career:
technology.
"Innovation
happens when we approach urgent challenges from every different point
of view. Bringing women and underrepresented minorities into the field
guarantees that we see the full range of solutions to the real problems
that people face in the world," Gates said on Monday to kick off her
partnership with Code.org's "
Hour of Code
" initiative, part of the annual
Computer Science Education Week
.
During
her remarks, Gates called computer literacy an "essential skill" and
said computer science has the power to change lives and change the
world.
"The
more we encourage different kinds of people to get interested in
technology the better that future will be," Gates said. "One of the
reasons
I'm
so optimistic about the future is tech can make the impossible
possible, but only if we're all involved in the effort. That's what CS
education is all about."
As a
Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing
keynote
speaker in October, Gates used her computer programming expertise to
reveal the problem with how women are currently led onto a career path
in tech and the simple solution to improve inclusion.
"Right
now, a lot of diversity efforts focus on women getting into the
so-called 'pipeline' but that pipeline isn't producing more than a
trickle and has a lot of conditionals built in, a lot of 'if-then'
statements, " Gates said.
In
other words, Gates emphasized how women are bound to an impractical
amount of constraints that don't allow them to successfully enter the
tech world. She compared these constraints to a term in the JavaScript
programming language called "conditional statements," which look like
this when coded:
Examples Gates gave of those conditionals in women's' lives include:
If
you get girls to take the right computer science and math classes in high school,
then
they'll succeed in their computer science classes in college.
If
they pass intro,
then
they will start their second-year courses on time and graduate in four years
If
they do that,
then
they can get their job in Silicon Valley.
But
Gates pointed out that "not everyone is going to meet those conditions
and many don't want to and there's no reason they have to in the first
place." She proposed that society instead begin from the "premise that
people get interested in computing in different ways, at different times
in their lives and for very different reasons."
"Or
to put it in coding terms, why not stop trying to get girls to meet the
necessary conditions for each predetermined 'if-then' statement and why
not start writing a series of for-loops," Gates said, introducing yet
another JavaScript term.
JavaScript
for-loops essentially repeats through a particular block of code a
given number of times. Here is the example line of code Gates shared
during her presentation:
These are the four steps Gates said she would like to see implemented with women as explained as for-loops:
Reach them early
For
girls growing up,
let's
create plenty of pathways to explore tech inside and outside the classroom.
Tech as a tool
For
women who are already in college,
let's
make it clear that tech is a tool for solving real-world problems.
Combine computing
For
women
already majoring in some other field, let's offer programs that combine
computing with the rest of their coursework and lead to the degrees in
things like bioinformatics.
Not just four years
For
women who discover their passion for tech at different times and different places,
let's
open up more pathways into the field.
"All
of this comes down to the same point: For anyone and everyone who has
talents and interest, there should be a way into tech," Gates said. "
This is a transformative moment for women, men, tech and the future."
"Women
did not create the barriers in tech and we cannot break them down all
alone. Male allies are absolutely critical in this work and we'll need
more of them. But we can lead the way."
No comments:
Post a Comment