Why don’t more girls go into technology careers?
The organisers behind a new Irish schools programme called the Ada Lovelace Initiative (ALI) believe one reason may well be that girls don’t see the people who are in such careers as being much like them.
“Instead, they think they’re like the people in the Big Bang Theory,” says Cathal Grogan, managing director, Verify Recruitment, who came up with the idea for the initiative.
And when girls were asked what they thought people did when they went into a tech career, they most often associated such jobs with people sitting passively in front of a computer screen and typing.
“That’s their idea of what happens. They don’t want to just sit around all day. They have these preconceived notions, but [the initiative] changes their perspective on who is involved in technology, when kids were exposed to it in a much more accessible way.”
The initiative – piloted last May and going into full drive this autumn – aims to bring women in all aspects of technology into the secondary school classrooms, to talk about themselves and their work.
Only one in four young women says they are interested in technology careers, says Ciara McGarry, acting deputy principal and science teacher at St Dominics College, Cabra.
MacGarry, who has helped develop the initiative, thinks a big contributor is the fact that computer science classes aren’t in the school curriculum.
“Because it isn’t in the curriculum, young women don’t see much computer programming and don’t see an obvious pathway into a career,” she says. So bringing in a person to talk about their own experience opens up new possibilities for students.
“They’ve really responded to it,” she says. “From the first visit, it was clear students weren’t aware of how much computer programming lies behind things they all use, like apps and Facebook and WhatsApp. They were really interested.”
The programme is aimed at fourth year students, since they are between the Junior and Leaving Certificates, and will have to make study choices by the end of fourth year, McGarry says.
Grogan, who has a background in technology, says his own two daughters were part inspiration for the initiative. Despite being good in science and maths subjects, they didn’t seem very interested in a tech-focused career, and he started to wonder why.
At around the same time, the issue of the gender gap in science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) education and careers was beginning to draw much public interest, and he decided to do something.
A visit to the Computer Museum at NUI Galway inspired him to visit their website, where he read about Ada Lovelace, the early 19th century computing pioneer. The daughter of poet Lord Byron, Lovelace was a maths and analytics prodigy, and helpedCharles Babbage with his computer forerunner, the Analytical Engine.
She is sometimes called the founder of scientific computing, and in recognition of her achievement, a computing language is named after her.
“I thought she sounded really interesting and inspiring, given the difficulties she faced in following her chosen path,” says Grogan, who gave her name to the initiative that began to take shape.
The Ada Lovelace Initiative, he says, “Is wrapped around storytelling.” Women who go speak to a class don’t come in to take specifically about their work, but “to tell her story”. The template the initiative suggests is for participants to think about a first person narrative; for example, “When I was your age, I …”
“We’re trying to present the person rather than the career, so students see a role model that was just like them.”
Amanda Hay, a software engineer with TripAdvisor who participated in the trial programme in May, came to classes and discussed all sorts of things with students, he says. She noted that a software engineer doesn’t just do coding, but considers aspects like design, too, such as thinking about how a thumbs up sign might look, he says.
She also talked about testing programs, explaining that this requires looking for mistakes in other people’s work. “One student said she’d love a job looking for other people’s mistakes,” laughs Grogan.
“But the most important thing was, they saw Amanda was someone like them. We have no prerequisites for the programme. We just want girls to think, ‘maybe this is something I could do’.”
For the pilot, Hay visited Mount Carmel Secondary School on Bolton Street in Dublin, and the visit was a great success, says David Coleman, transition year coordinator at the school.
“We think it opens up the students’ eyes. Many of them come from backgrounds where they might not see someone who’s an engineer within their own families,” he says. “And boys often feel naturally that they can do things in technology. Girls are often not as comfortable. The girls need to know the tech jobs out there are for them - that they can do it.”
Since the May pilot – for which “Trip Advisor have been hugely helpful” – an initial 20 schools in seven counties, have signed up for the launch of the initiative in September, and the organisers are hoping for more.
They are also seeking to add more role model women in technology jobs who are interested in talking to students. Visiting a school takes about an hour, and involves the role model telling students a bit about Ada Lovelace, and then, her own personal story.
And Grogan says he now thinks the role models should be talking to boys’ classes, too.
“We think this is a good initiative for all students. It’s just as important for male students to see a woman role model in technology.”
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