Addressing The Shortage Of Women In Silicon Valley

I am glad that we are beginning to see the need to increase our numbers in technology for women. The President has a council that is committed to making that women are no longer being left behind. I encourage young ladies all the time to learn as much as they can and to not allow their gender to hold them back.

This week thousands of women gathered in Portland, Ore., for the Grace Hopper Celebration, the world's largest technical conference for women and computing. High-tech companies are hiring, but there aren't nearly enough women to meet the demand.

Kate Schmalzried, a graduate student at Stanford, recalls one of her very first classes at the university — Computer Science 106A.

"That was really a good introduction to women in tech — there weren't many women in the class," she says, chuckling. "I distinctly remember being the only girl in my section."

It's no secret that beginning in middle school, young women often lose interest in math and science. So it's not surprising that relatively few women sign up for computer courses in college. When they do, they are often at a disadvantage.

"I remember on the first day, the guy sitting next to me telling me how he had coded a search engine — are you kidding me?" she says. "I'd never coded anything."

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