The 3 Reasons Why Girls Can't Code: Beauty, Breasts, Periods

Article by George Norman (Cybersecurity Editor)

on 20 May 2016

There is no denying that computing is a male-dominated world and that most computer programmers are men. There are women coders, obviously, but not that many. Which raises the question "why aren’t there more women who code?"

It’s not because men are better at coding than women, it’s because of the message that is sent to teen girls, which is "coding is not for you." And it’s also because girls opt out of coding when faced with negative stereotypes such as...

Girls can’t code because they’re beautiful

Damn those eyelashes, always getting in the way and preventing girls from seeing the monitor. Damn those nails too!




Girls can’t code because their boobs get in the way

Cleavages and breasts are distracting, especially large ones. So distracting that girls can’t focus on anything else.




Girls can’t code because they have periods

When a girl is on her period, she’s so emotional that she can’t do anything, not even code.




All the videos presented above are part of Girls Do Code, a campaign by Girls Who Code, a nonprofit organization working to close the gender gap in the technology and engineering sectors. With this campaign, the organization wants to tackle the sexist myths that keep girls out of male-dominated industries.



"There are already a ton of inspirational videos about why girls should code,” said Reshma Saujani, Founder and CEO of Girls Who Code. "We wanted to try something different and use humor and satire to question the stereotypes that tell our girls that coding is not for them. Our hope is these videos will spark a much-needed conversation about the messages we send our young women and what we can do to create a more inclusive, well-rounded image of a programmer."

The campaign videos were produced in partnership with McCann NY. Priti Kapur, McCann NY’s Executive Creative Director, had this to comment:

"When the girls themselves verbalize the biases it becomes abundantly clear just how ridiculous it is. The notion that being a woman is somehow a disadvantage for coding is so deeply ingrained in society that you almost need to hear it out loud to realize how crazy it is."

Girls Who Code works to educate, inspire, and equip high school girls with the skills and resources to pursue opportunities in computing fields. Learn more about it here.


In related news...

Emojis, while incredibly popular, don’t properly represent working women. So earlier this month, a team of four Google employees announced that that they developed a set of 13 emoji designed to better represent women in the professional world.

"No matter where you look, women are gaining visibility and recognition as never before. Isn’t it time that emoji also reflect the reality that women play a key role in every walk of life and in every profession?” says Google’s proposal (PDF). "Given the fact that women are the most frequent emoji users, and that they span a wide professional spectrum not yet reflected in current emoji, we want to help address this pressing matter of equality."

Always, one of Procter & Gamble’s major brands, also believes that emojis don’t truly represent girls. According to data from the "Always Confidence & Puberty Wave IV Study", 54% of the girls who took part in the survey feel like female emojis are stereotypical. And a whopping 75% percent of girls would like to see female emojis portrayed more progressively, including professional female emoji options.

"The girls in emojis only wear pink, are princesses or dancing bunnies, do their nails and their hair, and that’s about it. No other activities, no sports, no jobs… the realization is shocking," said Michele Baeten, Associate Brand Director and lead Always #LikeAGirl leader at Procter & Gamble. "Of course, societal limitations are broader than just emojis, but when we realized that stereotypical, limiting messages are hiding in places as innocent as emojis, it motivated us to demand change."





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