imagine a world where women in tech
everywhere have no blast feelings to
break through imagine a world where
there’s no gender gap in this vastly
expanding field a world where girls
everywhere have equal access and
opportunity to technology and now what
if I told you that the only thing
stopping this world from happening is
the fact that we let girls believe that
Tech is not for them we let them believe
that people who look like them don’t or
can’t make it big in this field what if
I told you that we as a world have
failed girls by not giving them a level
playing field and by not exposing them
to the incredible possibilities in
technology my name is mala Vika and I’m
the co-founder and executive director of
girls make apps a national nonprofit
organization that works to bridge the
gender gap in technology if you couldn’t
already tell I’m a woman in tech and as
such I’ve been a part of countless
groups and organizations and while these
groups have really left a profound
impact on me and given me the social
responsibility I feel I have I’m here
today to talk to you about my journey
through the space and the critical
paradigm shift that I’ve experienced
because of it this story begins with a
sophomore in high school from three
short years ago when I first learned
about the National Center for Women and
information technology or nCWIT see by
this time I had already experienced my
fair share of sexism and Tech from being
the only girl in my first programming
class of 40 to being called bossy
instead of a boss while leading my
middle school Robotics team but even
with all of this I grew up loving tech
even though I still wanted to find a
community of like-minded people where I
could feel a sense of solidarity and it
turned out that nCWIT was exactly that
today members in the community ranged
from
software professionals to young high
school women just getting their journey
in tech and every year the group grows
bigger with more women coming together
in solidarity as warriors against all of
the people who tell us we can’t in
recent years with running girls make
apps I’ve learned that here we have a
community a girl gang like no other and
we are all changing our corners of the
world
but despite the lifting each other up
and making room at the table we do for
each other on a constant basis recent
reports from companies like Atlassian
show that the tech industry is just not
making significant headway when it comes
to building diverse teams and it’s these
facts that have shown me that I have to
shift my perspective because we can’t
rely on women and tech organizations
like my own to actually give us equality
in tech so why is this the case right
why aren’t these women and tech
organizations enough well the problem of
diversity in tech stems from the fact
that most of us view diversity as a
novel target we have to hit and when
viewed as a novel target diversity
becomes exactly that a novelty instead
of the norm but the tech industry and
the education sector need to wake the
hell up diversity and balance and
representation of women aren’t visions
of our future but targets of our past do
you get that they are visions of our
future but targets of our past that we
have failed to hit time and time again
did you know that according to the
latest diversity and inclusion and tech
report published by Atlassian in 2018
company-wide diversity and inclusion
initiatives in Silicon Valley have
actually dropped from 55% in 2017 to 45%
in 2018 with hiring initiatives just
flatlining
across the board and as a result of
little to no tangible progress we have
less than 30 percent of underrepresented
groups at these companies that actually
feel a sense of belonging a sense of
belonging in the workplace and with this
you sort of see that that’s where you
get girls interests in stem dropping as
they grow older time hardens these
stereotypes and this much has been shown
by recent studies done by Microsoft that
show the girls actually gain an interest
in stem as young as 11 years old which
then sharply drops by the time they’re
15 this is heartbreaking to hear right
because girls who actually think about
entering tech stop considering it at one
of the most critical times in their
lives but again it all makes sense when
you can understand our country’s access
problem and unrealistic expectations in
recent years with running girls make
apps I began studying what really
prevents underrepresented groups from
entering tech on a much larger scale and
here’s what I found everywhere in our
country from our classrooms to our
boardrooms we set unrealistic
expectations for women and people of
color because how can you expect there
to be diversity in tech when tech
education and tech initiatives aren’t
even targeted towards these individuals
and when we’ve already been providing
them a way to get there
now this can be a hard concept to really
internalize so here’s an example if I
were let’s say a men’s volleyball
advocate right and I wanted to get a
more diverse group of players to play
the sport so I went to the south side of
San Antonio and told a group of Latino
American boys that we need diversity in
men’s volleyball and they should play
the sport what do you think the reaction
would be yeah probably a lot of laughter
because Latino American boys in this
country have little to no representation
in something like men’s volleyball they
don’t even see it as a tangible choice
for them so just saying we need
diversity is never enough without
providing a path or infrastructure a
representation to get there this is
where you get things like imposter
syndrome and that famous statement maybe
it’s just not for me because we’re
expecting these students most of whom
don’t have parents with tech or
engineering backgrounds to choose them
as their future and how can we expect
this when computer science isn’t offered
as a class or integrated curriculum in
any way in our schools here are the
facts the demographics of our nation are
shifting rapidly according to the
National Center for Education Statistics
more than half of the student population
of our k12 public schools is not white
and the Latino population continues to
be the principal driver of us
demographic growth with a 2 percent
growth rate according to the Pew
Research Center tech hubs like
California and New York are home to some
of the largest numbers of racial and
ethnic groups but when you look at
participation in the tech industry
itself those numbers plummet and why is
that the case again computer science
education isn’t offered in public
schools a majority of these students
don’t have relatable role models or any
representation to look up to so how are
they going to choose stem maybe it’s
just not for me
now that is a critical statement because
of just how many times I’ve heard it
from girls as young as nine years old in
our girls make apps workshops to women
in their 40s who are looking to make a
career change and feel like they’ve just
been left behind this is important
because we
we are all susceptible to an idea that
is wrong at its root because we live in
a world where we teach boys to keep
going regardless of their failure to
play rough and pick themselves up when
they fall but we teach girls to play
safe and not fail we teach boys from the
beginning to metabolize failure quickly
and keep moving at warp speed but we
teach girls to be afraid of risk and
afraid of jumping when we shift this
attitude we have towards boys to weigh
them to tip the way we raise girls we
show them how to be unbreakable we show
them that mistakes catapult you further
and obstacles make the journey greater
we give them power and they in turn will
use it to power the world and become
catalysts for change we saw this
immediately and girls make apps in the
beginning 80% of our students said that
they rated their confidence with using
technology as low ninety-five percent
said they hadn’t even considered the
possibility of a career in tech and I
think the responses really sunk in for
me when two of our students who were
Hispanic and English as the Second
Language Learners called me over once
after not being able to get a piece of
their app to work and they told me that
very same statement maybe it just isn’t
for us and right there in their slumped
shoulders and disappointment with
themselves
I saw the problem in the way we raise
girls because I was then not being able
to get things to work which is a
constant in tech frustrated me so many
times into wanting to give up failures
scared
me and sometimes it still scares me into
being completely risk-averse but I was
and I am lucky because I’ve always had
people around me who have expected me
commanded me to pick myself up and get
back on the horse every single time and
in sharing my experience with these
girls and in telling them all the times
I haven’t been able to get things to
work all the times I’ve turned to
someone for help
I began normalizing failure for them I
began showing them that yes sometimes
things may not work out
but you can never let that stop you they
went on to build a fully functional
Android app that’s been released on the
Play Store and is being used in their
district to help other English as a
[Applause]
but the main takeaway you have to get
from this is that fact that that app
wouldn’t exist if they had given up if
they had walked away from that workshop
so how many inventions
how many miracles how many breakthroughs
are we missing out on because of the way
we raise girls how many women in your
lives would have gone on to build
amazing things if you had been there for
them supported them and shown them that
it is their right they have a place here
how many so now that you’ve heard all of
this hopefully learned a few things you
may be asking yourself what can I do
well first of all figure out how to take
turn your position your privilege into
action you can do this if you’re acs
educator if you’re a teacher if you’re a
parent if you’re a member of a board of
education if you’re a guidance counselor
figure out how to get computer science
taught at your schools because it starts
at the beginning we need to start
providing a level playing field for
everybody in this country you can do
this by partnering with organizations
like CS for all and my friend Ruth
farmer who’s the chief evangelist over
there one person and one teacher may not
be able to change the world but with
collaboration and persistence
it is definitely achievable and you can
ask her if you don’t believe me I just
want to go back to that because one
person may not be able to change the
world but you can change one person in
the world you can change their story or
a man you can be an ally in so many ways
your uplifting of woman’s voice does so
much more than ours
you have privilege so recognize it and
use it because it is still a man’s world
but you can help make it an equal one
to all the women keep fighting the good
fight and being those role models and
those CEOs and getting those raises and
just being incredible because you’re
showing the world that we are
unstoppable the world is changing and it
is time we helped women crack the code thank you
everywhere have no blast feelings to
break through imagine a world where
there’s no gender gap in this vastly
expanding field a world where girls
everywhere have equal access and
opportunity to technology and now what
if I told you that the only thing
stopping this world from happening is
the fact that we let girls believe that
Tech is not for them we let them believe
that people who look like them don’t or
can’t make it big in this field what if
I told you that we as a world have
failed girls by not giving them a level
playing field and by not exposing them
to the incredible possibilities in
technology my name is mala Vika and I’m
the co-founder and executive director of
girls make apps a national nonprofit
organization that works to bridge the
gender gap in technology if you couldn’t
already tell I’m a woman in tech and as
such I’ve been a part of countless
groups and organizations and while these
groups have really left a profound
impact on me and given me the social
responsibility I feel I have I’m here
today to talk to you about my journey
through the space and the critical
paradigm shift that I’ve experienced
because of it this story begins with a
sophomore in high school from three
short years ago when I first learned
about the National Center for Women and
information technology or nCWIT see by
this time I had already experienced my
fair share of sexism and Tech from being
the only girl in my first programming
class of 40 to being called bossy
instead of a boss while leading my
middle school Robotics team but even
with all of this I grew up loving tech
even though I still wanted to find a
community of like-minded people where I
could feel a sense of solidarity and it
turned out that nCWIT was exactly that
today members in the community ranged
from
software professionals to young high
school women just getting their journey
in tech and every year the group grows
bigger with more women coming together
in solidarity as warriors against all of
the people who tell us we can’t in
recent years with running girls make
apps I’ve learned that here we have a
community a girl gang like no other and
we are all changing our corners of the
world
but despite the lifting each other up
and making room at the table we do for
each other on a constant basis recent
reports from companies like Atlassian
show that the tech industry is just not
making significant headway when it comes
to building diverse teams and it’s these
facts that have shown me that I have to
shift my perspective because we can’t
rely on women and tech organizations
like my own to actually give us equality
in tech so why is this the case right
why aren’t these women and tech
organizations enough well the problem of
diversity in tech stems from the fact
that most of us view diversity as a
novel target we have to hit and when
viewed as a novel target diversity
becomes exactly that a novelty instead
of the norm but the tech industry and
the education sector need to wake the
hell up diversity and balance and
representation of women aren’t visions
of our future but targets of our past do
you get that they are visions of our
future but targets of our past that we
have failed to hit time and time again
did you know that according to the
latest diversity and inclusion and tech
report published by Atlassian in 2018
company-wide diversity and inclusion
initiatives in Silicon Valley have
actually dropped from 55% in 2017 to 45%
in 2018 with hiring initiatives just
flatlining
across the board and as a result of
little to no tangible progress we have
less than 30 percent of underrepresented
groups at these companies that actually
feel a sense of belonging a sense of
belonging in the workplace and with this
you sort of see that that’s where you
get girls interests in stem dropping as
they grow older time hardens these
stereotypes and this much has been shown
by recent studies done by Microsoft that
show the girls actually gain an interest
in stem as young as 11 years old which
then sharply drops by the time they’re
15 this is heartbreaking to hear right
because girls who actually think about
entering tech stop considering it at one
of the most critical times in their
lives but again it all makes sense when
you can understand our country’s access
problem and unrealistic expectations in
recent years with running girls make
apps I began studying what really
prevents underrepresented groups from
entering tech on a much larger scale and
here’s what I found everywhere in our
country from our classrooms to our
boardrooms we set unrealistic
expectations for women and people of
color because how can you expect there
to be diversity in tech when tech
education and tech initiatives aren’t
even targeted towards these individuals
and when we’ve already been providing
them a way to get there
now this can be a hard concept to really
internalize so here’s an example if I
were let’s say a men’s volleyball
advocate right and I wanted to get a
more diverse group of players to play
the sport so I went to the south side of
San Antonio and told a group of Latino
American boys that we need diversity in
men’s volleyball and they should play
the sport what do you think the reaction
would be yeah probably a lot of laughter
because Latino American boys in this
country have little to no representation
in something like men’s volleyball they
don’t even see it as a tangible choice
for them so just saying we need
diversity is never enough without
providing a path or infrastructure a
representation to get there this is
where you get things like imposter
syndrome and that famous statement maybe
it’s just not for me because we’re
expecting these students most of whom
don’t have parents with tech or
engineering backgrounds to choose them
as their future and how can we expect
this when computer science isn’t offered
as a class or integrated curriculum in
any way in our schools here are the
facts the demographics of our nation are
shifting rapidly according to the
National Center for Education Statistics
more than half of the student population
of our k12 public schools is not white
and the Latino population continues to
be the principal driver of us
demographic growth with a 2 percent
growth rate according to the Pew
Research Center tech hubs like
California and New York are home to some
of the largest numbers of racial and
ethnic groups but when you look at
participation in the tech industry
itself those numbers plummet and why is
that the case again computer science
education isn’t offered in public
schools a majority of these students
don’t have relatable role models or any
representation to look up to so how are
they going to choose stem maybe it’s
just not for me
now that is a critical statement because
of just how many times I’ve heard it
from girls as young as nine years old in
our girls make apps workshops to women
in their 40s who are looking to make a
career change and feel like they’ve just
been left behind this is important
because we
we are all susceptible to an idea that
is wrong at its root because we live in
a world where we teach boys to keep
going regardless of their failure to
play rough and pick themselves up when
they fall but we teach girls to play
safe and not fail we teach boys from the
beginning to metabolize failure quickly
and keep moving at warp speed but we
teach girls to be afraid of risk and
afraid of jumping when we shift this
attitude we have towards boys to weigh
them to tip the way we raise girls we
show them how to be unbreakable we show
them that mistakes catapult you further
and obstacles make the journey greater
we give them power and they in turn will
use it to power the world and become
catalysts for change we saw this
immediately and girls make apps in the
beginning 80% of our students said that
they rated their confidence with using
technology as low ninety-five percent
said they hadn’t even considered the
possibility of a career in tech and I
think the responses really sunk in for
me when two of our students who were
Hispanic and English as the Second
Language Learners called me over once
after not being able to get a piece of
their app to work and they told me that
very same statement maybe it just isn’t
for us and right there in their slumped
shoulders and disappointment with
themselves
I saw the problem in the way we raise
girls because I was then not being able
to get things to work which is a
constant in tech frustrated me so many
times into wanting to give up failures
scared
me and sometimes it still scares me into
being completely risk-averse but I was
and I am lucky because I’ve always had
people around me who have expected me
commanded me to pick myself up and get
back on the horse every single time and
in sharing my experience with these
girls and in telling them all the times
I haven’t been able to get things to
work all the times I’ve turned to
someone for help
I began normalizing failure for them I
began showing them that yes sometimes
things may not work out
but you can never let that stop you they
went on to build a fully functional
Android app that’s been released on the
Play Store and is being used in their
district to help other English as a
[Applause]
but the main takeaway you have to get
from this is that fact that that app
wouldn’t exist if they had given up if
they had walked away from that workshop
so how many inventions
how many miracles how many breakthroughs
are we missing out on because of the way
we raise girls how many women in your
lives would have gone on to build
amazing things if you had been there for
them supported them and shown them that
it is their right they have a place here
how many so now that you’ve heard all of
this hopefully learned a few things you
may be asking yourself what can I do
well first of all figure out how to take
turn your position your privilege into
action you can do this if you’re acs
educator if you’re a teacher if you’re a
parent if you’re a member of a board of
education if you’re a guidance counselor
figure out how to get computer science
taught at your schools because it starts
at the beginning we need to start
providing a level playing field for
everybody in this country you can do
this by partnering with organizations
like CS for all and my friend Ruth
farmer who’s the chief evangelist over
there one person and one teacher may not
be able to change the world but with
collaboration and persistence
it is definitely achievable and you can
ask her if you don’t believe me I just
want to go back to that because one
person may not be able to change the
world but you can change one person in
the world you can change their story or
a man you can be an ally in so many ways
your uplifting of woman’s voice does so
much more than ours
you have privilege so recognize it and
use it because it is still a man’s world
but you can help make it an equal one
to all the women keep fighting the good
fight and being those role models and
those CEOs and getting those raises and
just being incredible because you’re
showing the world that we are
unstoppable the world is changing and it
is time we helped women crack the code thank you
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