Google has launched a $50 million initiative called "Made with Code" in an attempt to attract more girls to careers in the coding industry.
Over 150 New York-area high school girls will attend the kickoff event today (June 19), according to a report by USA Today.
"Our industry has lots of stereotypes, including the notion that coding means sitting at a computer alone," says Google Vice President Megan Smith, according to the report. "We hope to show girls that coding is fun. But there's also the simple fact that supply and demand is not working. There are millions of jobs out there going begging."
Google's event will be held at a Manhattan loft called Skylight Modern, and features host Mindy Kaling (from "The Office and "The Mind Project"), speakers like Chelsea Clinton, and a number of tech-savy women determined to inspire teens who attend.
Clinton, who works for both the Clinton Foundation and the Clinton Global Initiative, said that the number of women graduates of computer science graduates has dropped significantly from 40 percent in the 80's to 14 percent today.
"It's hard to imagine being something you can't see," says Clinton, according to USA Today. "The issue of role models is a big one, and (Made with Code) represents a new, comprehensive effort to provide just that."
Made with Code's mission is anchored by a website where girls can use basic coding technique to make items like bracelets, according to USA Today.
Google will also give out grants to host girl-coding parties at Girl Scouts and Boys and Girls Clubs all over the country, as well as fund a number of awareness and marketing campaigns.
The idea of the initiative is to show how coding is vital to everything important from helping cure malaria to making movies.
According to a report by Villanova University Department of Computer Science, there will be 4.2 million jobs in computing and information technology by 2020 in the U.S.
Less than one percent of high school girls chose computer science as their career path however, according to the report.
"The only people that are involved in computers and technology and stuff are only men," said student Luisa Goytia, who participated in "Girls Who Code" program in 2013, according to USA Today. "I didn't know why, and I never questioned it."
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