Craig Newmark works towards ending gender-gap in tech

Craig Newmark, the founder of craigslist and craigconnects.org , a classified advertisements website, recently said that there is a huge gender gap in Technology. The Guardian reported him saying, “Women and girls still face overwhelming obstacles to accessing and shaping technologies. The digital gender divide might be getting worse. Women and girls everywhere are missing, underrepresented, and dropping out from technology fields.”

Having worked with women engineers and programmers for forty years, Newmark believes that technology improves with women’s participation. He talks about ‘Feminist Approach to Technology,’ (FAT) an organization in New Delhi that empowers adolescent girls through technology.  FAT has introduced computer courses and workshops on various important issues like self-esteem, caste and class, reproductive health, and cultural issues.

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The organization is currently helping the girls by teaching them workforce skills. According to a report by The Guardian, the girls from FAT recently produced a video on the need for safe, clean public toilets in communities. Newmark adds that he supports and advocates Global Fund for Women's petition with UN Women that is working towards bring an end to the gender disparity in technology.

He also said, “I'm adding my name to call on the United Nations, governments around the world, and key decision makers to remove all barriers to the development and use of technology, increase investment in girls' science and technology education around the world, and ensure women's and girls' full participation as developers and innovators,” according to The Guardian. The aim is to reach 20,000 signatures by March 5 to deliver the petition for International Women's Day on March 8 in 2015.

ORIGINAL SOURCE: The Guardian

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/craig-newmark/join-me-to-end-the-gender_1_b_6327504.html