BUSINESS
Supporting women in tech
Morgan Smith — February 26, 2020
We believe it’s profoundly important to supporting women in tech with organizations working to further the field of technology. Embracing one of our company values, “We are productive community members,” we decided to celebrate some of the incredible work being done to support women in tech.
Discover (or re-discover!) some of the nonprofits, events, and resources we think are making a real and positive impact in the space this year.
Here are 20 amazing groups helping women in tech in 2020:
- Black Girls CODE
- CallbackWomen
- Canada Learning Code
- Female Founders Fund
- Elpha
- Girl Geek Dinners
- Girls in Tech
- Girls Who Code
- Grace Hopper Celebration
- MarketHER
- National Center for Women & Information Technology
- Project Include
- She++
- TechWomen
- Technovation
- Women in Technology Summit
- DoSpace Women Innovators Fellowship
- Code Crush
- Get Conf
- Mystery Code Society
- Project 18
- You Go Girl
- Emerging Ladies Academy
Black Girls CODE
Black Girls CODE introduces young girls from underrepresented communities to programming languages such as Scratch or Ruby on Rails. Their mission is to prove that girls of every color have the skills to become the programmers of tomorrow. Black Girls CODE’s ultimate goal is to provide African-American youth with the skills to occupy some of the 1.4 million computing job openings expected to be available in the U.S. by 2020, and to train 1 million girls by 2040.
CallbackWomen
Working to diversify speaker line-ups at conferences, CallbackWomen encourages gender diversity through advocacy, education, and resources. They also help conference organizers create more diverse and inclusive events and connect with a large network of talented speakers.
Canada Learning Code
By creating educational programs for historically underrepresented people in the tech industry, CLC works to diversify and increase digital literacy. They have several programs focused on children and teens, plus resources for teachers and educators.
Female Founders Fund
Traditional venture capitalism often ignores female entrepreneurs, so F3 was founded to make a difference by investing in female-led companies in key tech sectors. They have an impressive portfolio of companies they’ve helped fund (if you’re looking for some female-led businesses to support!), or this might be a great resource to bookmark if you’re working on a business of your own.
Elpha
Elpha is a collaborative environment where women of all backgrounds can communicate openly and candidly online with others. If you’re looking for a supportive, online organization to join to collaborate with others, Elpha is the perfect place to that.
Girl Geek Dinners
What started as one women wishing more women were attending tech events, this organization has gone global, with events in multiple countries. Want to join an event or start a group of your own? Learn more on their website to get involved.
Girls in Tech
This National non-profit organization is making strides in efforts to eliminate gender inequality in technology fields and startups. By hosting events, competitions, and learning opportunities, Girls in Tech hopes to support women however they see fit in order to make a difference for generations of women to come.
Girls Who Code
Girls Who Code was founded to close the gender gap in technology and is helping to build the next generation of female engineers. They offer a variety of programs for young girls in all 50 states and have worked with over 90,000 girls since it was started!
Grace Hopper Celebration
The largest global conference for women technologists, this event produced by AnitaB.org is a joyful celebration of female accomplishment! Last year’s conference featured more than 400 sessions and 900 speakers, so it’s a great place to network with other women and find inspiration.
MarketHER
This organization’s sole purpose is to help female tech marketers grow their careers. From online communities to free online workshops, they offer a variety of educational resources to promote the leadership of women in technical marketing fields.
National Center for Women & Information Technology
The NCWIT is a national non-profit that “convenes, equips, and unites” women of all ages to take action. This group consists of universities, nonprofits, companies, and other organizations that are working toward empowering women to grow in the technology industry and as entrepreneurs.
Project Include
A practical resource for CEOs, Project Include advocates for diversity and inclusion in hiring. It’s a non-profit organization that offers a community for company leaders to connect with others learning and making improvements for diversity and inclusion.
She++
She++ is a nonprofit that aims to empower underrepresented groups in technology by dismantling negative stereotypes surrounding technical careers. The group wants to dispel the misconception that computer science is not a career for women and minorities by rebranding what it means to be a technologist. The group offers fellowship and ambassador opportunities and also creates documentary content that represents diversity and the power of positivity in computer science.
TechWomen
This organization aims to empower, connect, and support the next generation of female leaders in STEM careers from Africa, Central and South Asia, and the Middle East. By providing access and opportunity, it’s helping women advance their careers, pursue their dreams, and inspire other women in their communities.
Technovation
Technovation provides the opportunity for girls around the world to identify a problem in their community, and then challenge them to solve it. Girls who are selected, work in teams to build a mobile app and develop a business plan to launch the app publicly. Over 23,000 girls around the world have participated since the organization started and these girls leave the competition with mentorship and guidance to move forward with their careers.
Women in Technology Summit
Women in Technology International’s annual summit aims to provide women in tech with an opportunity to network and learn in a welcoming environment. WITI also offers a vast amount of resources (including careers coaching) for women in technology.
We’re proud to call Omaha home, and even prouder to see what our community is doing to help lift women up in the Midwest. Here are just a few making an impact.
DoSpace Women Innovators Fellowship
DoSpace, a space in the Omaha community, that partners with Metropolitan Community College, aims to bring people in the community closer to technology through classes, providing technology resources and much more. Each year, DoSpace provides the opportunity for women to apply for a competitive fellowship opportunity. Throughout a six-month period, three fellows receive $10,000, mentorship from experts and additional resources to bring an idea of their choice promoting the advancement of women in technology and tech entrepreneurs in Omaha to life!
Code Crush
This program from the University of Nebraska Omaha is a series of immersion experiences for 8th and 9th-grade girls, plus their teachers. The hands-on format encourages these young women to go further into the world of technology, especially up-and-coming fields such as bioinformatics, IT innovation, music technology, and cybersecurity.
Get Conf
Get Conf is an annual tech conference that promotes gender equity in the world of technology. Through a full day of conference programming, attendees get to hear the stories and experiences of 15 industry-leading women and gender-expansive speakers, while getting opportunities to network.
Mystery Code Society
The Mystery Code Society aims to champion gender equity in tech through expansive beginner and intermediate coding education for women, femmes and non-men. The organization highlights that in order to achieve gender equality in the world of tech, this has to include recognizing and standing by and for anyone who does not receive privilege from their gender identity and/or expression.
Project 18
Started by Tech Omaha, this seeks to growth Omaha’s standing as on of the most women-friendly tech communities in the US. Currently sitting at number 18 (hence the name Project 18), this group plans to work together through meetups, news, and learning in order to rise to the top of the standing.
You Go Girl
You Go Girl is a nonprofit in Omaha, Nebraska that exists to encourage, empower, and inspire women and girls everywhere. This organization seeks to build up young women from the inside.
Emerging Ladies Academy
Emerging Ladies Academy is another organization in Omaha focused on empowering young, black girls interested in technology. They often host free events called SHE CODE where young women can come and learn web development skills from local programming professionals.
All of these organizations, events, and resources are doing incredible work for women in tech and the field as a whole. Know another organization that should be on this list? Feel free to share in the comments below so we can continue celebrating and supporting each other!
