Turning News Into Knowledge

Last night’s Girl Geek Dinner Ottawa  featured one of the  passionate founders of Girl Develop It Ottawa, Serena Ngai.

After ordering our dinners at The Black Tomato, Serena’s presentation got underway. Her goal in launching the Ottawa chapter of Girl Develop It was to increase the number of women in technology-related careers, and she hopes strong female role models will inspire girls to feel more comfortable pursuing this career path.

At one point in her presentation, Serena asked us to name six women in prominent technology roles.  Even as a group we couldn’t come up with six.

This is exactly why Girl Develop It Ottawa exists.

Serena also highlighted the ever-widening gender gap in technology-related careers, presenting the problem as three-pronged:

• Diversity – women may be uncomfortable being outspoken in a male-dominated environment;
• Advancement – women who have not studied technological fields at a post-secondary institution may feel it would take too much time and effort to learn now;
• Role models – without them, women don’t have anyone to look to for inspiration

The above illustrates the widening gap between U.S. women and their male counterparts in tech-related fields.

Girl Develop It Ottawa hopes to change this by creating a friendly, supportive environment where women can learn new tech skills. At its workshops, Girl Develop It Ottawa provides out-of-classroom instruction (with what they say is a low time commitment) to help women build their skill sets.

The next Girl Develop It workshop, Intro to HTML and CSS, is on Nov. 29 and Dec. 6, from 6:30 – 9:30 p.m., and Serena says she’s also looking for volunteers to help run workshops and share technological skills with Ottawa women.

As the evening wound down, Girl Geek Dinner Ottawa thanked its sponsors:  National Arts Centre, Used Ottawa, and of course, MediaMiser.

For information on the next Girl Geek Dinner, search its hashtag on Twitter… and remember tickets sell out fast!