Calling all female techies in New York City: this week is for you.
New York’s Women in Tech Week launched Monday as a way to recognize the accomplishments of women in the tech sphere and to encourage more women to pursue tech careers.
The week-long celebration was created by CommonBond, a student loan refinancing company, and with partners like Duolingo, ClassPass and Betterment. There are three components to the week: a report on what women want in the tech workplace, a social media campaign to “support the next generation of women in tech” and a female founders event.
So what do women want in a tech workplace?
We’ve heard plenty of talk about how unwelcoming tech jobs can feel to women, and CommonBond surveyed more than 600 women in tech about what would change that.
Those surveyed suggested that companies hire more women in leadership roles, create better long-term career planning processes and provide more training and professional development opportunities if they want to attract and retain female tech employees.
Women already in the tech field will gather on Tuesday for a Women in Tech Week event featuring female founders of companies like artificial intelligence startup Pymetrics, Brooklyn-based job search site The Muse and more.
CommonBond also wants to help more women plan to enter tech careers, and to do so, the company partnered with Girls Who Code for the week’s social media campaign.
For every post that either answers the question “Why are you proud to be a woman in tech?” or “Why are you proud to support women in tech?” and that includes the hashtag #2017WITW, CommonBond will donate to Girls Who Code, which will fund scholarships for girls in middle school and high school embarking on a tech career.
“When you teach girls to code, they build apps, programs and movements to help tackle our country’s toughest problems. Our girls have created apps about the water crisis in Flint, games tackling period stigma and microprocessors that make guns safer,” said Reshma Saujani, CEO and founder of Girls Who Code, in a statement. “Through Women in Tech Week, CommonBond and other technology companies are helping us to empower women in technology, and create ways for today’s girls to become tomorrow’s leaders.”
