Startups can benefit from increased contributions of women as founders, collaborators, and creators of new technologies. Companies with intentional culture and gender-diverse teams:
- perform better financially, particularly when women occupy a significant proportion of top management positions
- demonstrate superior team dynamics and productivity
- produce work teams that stay on schedule and under budget
- demonstrate improved employee performance
The National Center for Women & Information Technology (NCWIT) is a non-profit community of more than 1,100 universities, companies, non-profits, and government organizations nationwide working to increase girls’ and women’s meaningful participation in computing. NCWIT equips change leaders with resources for taking action in recruiting, retaining, and advancing women from K–12 and higher education through industry and entrepreneurial careers.
Why Computing Matters
Computing permeates every aspect of our society, creating a high demand for technological innovations that change how we think, connect, conduct research, build products, and more. This demand drives the economy and creates a direct impact on the job market; the U.S. Department of Labor estimates 1.1 million computing-related job openings in the U.S. by 2024, but more than two-thirds of these jobs could go unfilled due to the insufficient pool of college graduates with computing related degrees. Computing underpins every other STEM discipline as a highly versatile and sought-after skillset that is essential in today’s information economy.
What We Know: Diversity in Computing is Lacking
Even though computing jobs offer some of the highest salaries available, we’re failing to make computing education accessible to all and attract diverse talent to the discipline. Additionally, women already employed in the technology industry are leaving at staggering rates, so we’re not keeping diverse talent either.
In Your Reach 