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High school is hard enough, but when you’re a girl interested in tech and are one of the only girls in your STEM class, students say it can be disheartening.
After high school, the women who go on to work in the tech industry are unfortunately a small number compared to other fields: women hold only 26% of computing jobs, and only 12% of engineers at Silicon Valley tech startups are women. The four-day international tech conference, known as GirlCon, is hoping to change this narrative and help girls’ interest in tech eventually blossom into a successful career.
“GirlCon was sort of what fueled my passion for technology,” Vidya Bharadwaj, co-director of GirlCon and incoming high school senior, told Lifewire over the phone. “It allowed me to be connected to this whole community of young people who were interested in technology.”
