On the occasion of the International Day of Girls in ICT, last Thursday, April 24, the 'Code Club' project promoted the activity 'Let's speak clearly: women are also tech'. The proposal explored the opportunities that new technologies offer to girls and young women, brought together the tools, resources and strategies to break down gender barriers and stereotypes and promoted a more equitable and inclusive digital transformation. "Today, we celebrate the International Day of Girls in ICT, an international day to highlight the role of women in technology," says Martina Mayrhofer, coordinator of the Code Club Catalonia project. The activity included a talk with the participation of four women representing various entities in the technology and digital sectors: Ana Lucía Silva, co-founder of FemCoders Club, Mar Coscojuela, 3D artist and member of FemDevs, Milagros Sainz, director of the GENTIC group at the Universitat Oberta de Catalunya, and Martina Mayrhofer, coordinator of the Code Club Catalunya project. The conversation addressed inequalities, discrimination and opportunities to reverse the gender gap within the digital and technology sectors, as well as becoming a space to share knowledge, experiences, projects and initiatives and talk about the future from a feminist perspective. "The situation of girls in ICT has improved. In 2018, for example, the video game industry had 16.5% women. In 2023, the figure increased and reached 26.4% women. Despite being an improvement, there is still a lot of work to be done, and here the role of role models is key," says Mar Coscojuela, 3D artist and member of FemDevs.
At the same time, a programming taster with the Scratch tool was promoted for girls aged 8 to 13. The workshop offered the possibility of learning how to create exciting games, surprising animations and interactive stories. The educational proposal delved into the foundations of block programming and exemplified how to use new technologies from a more creative perspective. In this sense, the 'Code Club' project is looking for new volunteers who want to join the initiative and share their technological knowledge and digital knowledge with children and families. "'Code Club' is a very nice project that we promote from the Colectic cooperative and that wants to promote computational skills among boys and girls with a free after-school format," adds Mayrhofer.
The 'Code Club' project is funded by the European Union within the framework of the NextGenerationEU European funds and the Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan of the Ministry of Youth and Childhood of Spain.