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Programming Technology

'Women Who Code' Shuts Down Unexpectedly (bbc.com) 107

Posted by BeauHD from the budget-cuts dept.
Women Who Code (WWC), a U.S.-based organization of 360,000 people supporting women who work in the tech sector, is shutting down due to a lack of funding. "It is with profound sadness that, today, on April 18, 2024, we are announcing the difficult decision to close Women Who Code, following a vote by the Board of Directors to dissolve the organization," the organization said in a blog post. "This decision has not been made lightly. It only comes after careful consideration of all options and is due to factors that have materially impacted our funding sources -- funds that were critical to continuing our programming and delivering on our mission. We understand that this news will come as a disappointment to many, and we want to express our deepest gratitude to each and every one of you who have been a part of our journey." The BBC reports: WWC was started 2011 by engineers who "were seeking connection and support for navigating the tech industry" in San Francisco. It became a nonprofit organization in 2013 and expanded globally. In a post announcing its closure, it said it had held more than 20,000 events and given out $3.5m in scholarships. A month before the closure, WWC had announced a conference for May, which has now been cancelled.

A spokesperson for WWC said: "We kept our programming moving forward while exploring all options." They would not comment on questions about the charity's funding. The most recent annual report, for 2022, showed the charity made almost $4m that year, while its expenses were just under $4.2m. WWC said that "while so much has been accomplished," their mission was not complete. It continued: "Our vision of a tech industry where diverse women and historically excluded people thrive at every level is not fulfilled."
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'Women Who Code' Shuts Down Unexpectedly More

'Women Who Code' Shuts Down Unexpectedly

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  • Well, stands to reason (Score:4, Funny)

    by cascadingstylesheet ( 140919 ) on Friday April 19, 2024 @05:06PM (#64409130) Journal
    Biologists [usatoday.com] don't come cheap!

  • A little too late for an audit (Score:3)

    by DrMrLordX ( 559371 ) on Friday April 19, 2024 @05:15PM (#64409138)

    Seems like the people contributing to the organization should have asked for an audit at least a year ago if those expense numbers are accurate.

  • I hope someone will keep paying for the DNS, otherwise the result could be ugly.

  • 5% budget deficit? (Score:4, Insightful)

    by presidenteloco ( 659168 ) on Friday April 19, 2024 @05:26PM (#64409158)
    It would be interesting to know why they couldn't adjust to eliminate a 5% budget deficit, instead of shutting down.

    • Re: (Score:3, Funny)

      by Anonymous Coward
      None of the staff could figure out the math.

    • It would be interesting to know why they couldn't adjust to eliminate a 5% budget deficit, instead of shutting down.

      Executives taking a pay cut? LOL, they would actually have to believe in what they are doing rather than merely virtue signalling for money. The grift was not profitable enough is all.

  • Well, when the very first thing you want people to know is that you have a vagina, you can expect limited interest, unless you're in the sex industry.

    When it comes to programming, which is more important, the coding or the vagina?

    Maybe they would have been more successful if they had called themselves, "Coders who are women" rather than "Women who code".

    • Re: Vaginas (Score:2, Insightful)

      by LordofWinterfell ( 90845 )

      Assuming youâ(TM)re a child and could use some explainingâ¦women are people, who need jobs so they can pay for things they want, just like you.

      Some industries have a glaring issue where they tend to NOT hire women, if only for the exact reason you eloquently stated, because they are physically different.

      Organizations exist because people say, hey thatâ(TM)s not fair, and the find ways to help said group access things that they were prevented from accessing before.

      Then people like you fai

      • Re: (Score:3)

        by ffkom ( 3519199 )

        Some industries have a glaring issue where they tend to NOT hire women, if only for the exact reason you eloquently stated, because they are physically different.

        Have you ever witnessed a hiring process in an IT company where a female appearance was actually held as an argument against a job applicant? In all my years in IT, I have only ever witnessed the opposite - recruiters being happy if any women applied for an IT job, at all.

        There are certainly jobs where physical appearance is a hiring criterion. But I have not seen a charity yet giving money to men to help them getting a job as a fashion model, or a charity giving money to short people to help them becoming

      • Just fyi, I have a vagina.

  • Think Different (Score:4, Interesting)

    by RitchCraft ( 6454710 ) on Friday April 19, 2024 @06:16PM (#64409260)

    When I was a high school computer science teacher the administration and I were always looking for ways to get girls interested in attending the class. Each year, on average, I would have about 5 girls out of the 48 students I could take. No matter what was tried we had a hard time recruiting girls. The interest level in networking, computer repair, cable and fiber installation, programming, etc.. just wasn't there. The girls we did get performed just as well as anyone else and seemed slightly more focused on getting work done. After all those years I still have no idea why the big push to get females into the industry when the interest level does not exist. Auto, Electrical, Welding, and the CNC/PLC classes all had the same problem as well. CAD/CAM was the only classroom that consistently had about a 50/50 mix of students.

    • Re: (Score:2, Insightful)

      by iAmWaySmarterThanYou ( 10095012 )

      Men and women are exactly the same. If you say otherwise you'll risk getting cancelled.

    • Re: (Score:2, Informative)

      by burtosis ( 1124179 )
      When I was in grad school, all the engineering and computer science departments had this problem. One year was particularly bad for the computer science department, there were no female US citizen applications. Not one.

      • Unless there were some type of strange quota, or unrealistic expectations, why was is a "problem"? It is a problem that there are very few male nurses, interior decorators, florists, payroll mangers, hairdressers, speech pathologists, or daycare workers?

        • Some people certainly think it's a problem. Me, I think that it can occasionally be a problem. In that more viewpoints is generally a good thing, a female programmer can bring different life experiences to the table, and maybe catch something an all-male crew would miss.

          That said, it's probably not 100% critical to have a female for every project - a military targeting program might have less need than, say, a dating app.

          • It’s not a problem if it’s 10-1 or even 50-1 but the department received something around 300 to 500 applicants and not one was female. 500-1 is a problem. This is true if for no other reason than societal pressure is forcing away a sizable chunk of the brightest people and what we are left with is less than what could have been.

        • Unless there were some type of strange quota, or unrealistic expectations, why was is a "problem"? It is a problem that there are very few male nurses, interior decorators, florists, payroll mangers, hairdressers, speech pathologists, or daycare workers?

          Those are also issues. The main thing is that it’s more of a US problem than a world wide problem. It’s not like the departments were flooded with 10x as many applicants from abroad, rather it’s less than domestic applicants by about 7-1. Instead, something about our society shapes these inequalities to a degree significantly below the world average. I’m a firm believer that to optimize society for the most gain it needs to be fair and equitable for all that exist within that so

          • >"The main thing is that itâ(TM)s more of a US problem than a world wide problem."

            Culture varies. Priorities vary. We live a life in the US of higher standards of living, which also means people are MORE free to pursue their actual interests vs. forcing themselves to enter fields that just pay more in which they may have less interest or ability. This pattern has been noted in many European countries, where as standards of living increased, the differences in fields men and women chose separated

    • Re: (Score:1)

      by dirk ( 87083 )

      The lack of interest leads to more lack of interest. And a lot of the lack of interest comes from the lack of women in tech. Even when women do show an interest, they are often run off by the rampant sexism in the field. Look at something like gaming, which is a lead in for many people to tech. Sexism is rampant in gaming to the point many women refuse to use comms in a game because they know what will happen. Because there are no women, it leads to open sexism, which leads to less women. It is an ouroboros

    • Re:Think Different (Score:4, Insightful)

      by Baron_Yam ( 643147 ) on Friday April 19, 2024 @11:21PM (#64409622)

      It's political. A lot of people can't get it into their heads that 'equal rights' and 'equal opportunity' don't mean 'equal outcomes'.

      There's a lot of evidence that female and male tendencies are fundamental to the brain from very early on and girls tend towards the social stuff while boys tend towards the mechanical stuff.

      Just keep in mind it's a Bell curve and there's lots of overlap and plenty of room for exceptions. Just because most girls want something else doesn't mean we shouldn't be welcoming the girls who want the same things... but it's also pointless to try and force them to want it in equal numbers.

    • Re:Think Different (Score:4, Insightful)

      by tlhIngan ( 30335 ) <slashdot&worf,net> on Saturday April 20, 2024 @12:51AM (#64409674)

      And the problem is that women often don't know they can enter these fields.

      There are tons of women who want to enter trades. However, all they see are men everywhere - and thus society has set up a stigma that "girls can't code" or "girls can't be electricians".

      The assumption is "girls aren't interested" is about as true as saying "boys don't cry". It's a sexism thing - girls play with Barbie, boys play with GI Joe. Heaven forbid you have a boy who's interested in Barbie, or a girl who wants Transformers.

      In fact, many trades have "girls do trades" type events where the whole purpose is to show that yes, if you want to sling a hammer, or do electrical work, or plumbing, or whatever, you can. Often there's no role model to say "yes, you can!" in a family context, so plenty of people make the assumption that no, you might like to work on the computer and have a great time at it, but only boys code, so go and be a nurse instead".

      I'm sure there's probably a huge dichotomy of people who are in unhappy careers because it "fit the stereotype" rather than actually exploring options in what they are more interested in. I know people who did computer science in university because they didn't know what to do, so their parents said to do computer science as it was popular. I'm sure you all know how that usually turns out

      And the reason I think it's cultural? Other cultures have often no such qualms. I've seen lots of women from Indian, Chinese, or Eastern European backgrounds. They were encouraged to do the sciences and they pursued them Also, take a look at advertising for video games prior to the videogame crash - you'll find it's often done as a family activity with both a son and a daughter enjoying what little game there is. But afterwards, it's purely something the boys do. And it has something to do with Nintendo - because in order to sell the NES, Nintendo couldn't market it as a "video game" as that was poison. So they marketed it as a toy (aided by Robby). But if you do that, you need to pick - does it go in the boys section or the girls - heaven forbid a toy might actually be interesting to both sexes.

      • Re: (Score:1)

        by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

        In some societies, STEM is more of a girl's thing. In Iran, for example, a country not known for it's gender equality, around 70% of STEM graduates are women, and in some subjects it's over 90%. It's very much social.

        There was an interesting example of how things can change in Japan recently. An anime called Do It Yourself followed a group of girls saving their school DIY club from closure due to low membership. It was blatant Big DIY industry propaganda, but it was also kind of endearing and fun. A lot of

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by ET3D ( 1169851 )

          Far as I've read women in STEM are generally more common in societies with less gender equality.

      • There are tons of women who want to enter trades. However, all they see are men everywhere - and thus society has set up a stigma that "girls can't code" or "girls can't be electricians". The assumption is "girls aren't interested" is about as true as saying "boys don't cry". It's a sexism thing - girls play with Barbie, boys play with GI Joe. Heaven forbid you have a boy who's interested in Barbie, or a girl who wants Transformers..

        Maybe abstractly, but if their own toilet breaks do they try to fix it? And do they want a paycheck for having a job or to get paid for getting the job done? Do they want to wear a uniform and get free healthcare/college or blow someone's brains out? A nurse has better working conditions and pay than tradesman, and better job security than people in IT. Healthcare and education probably pay less in Asia so women make different choices, but I don't think they are so desperate that they are unclogging toilets

      • The assumption is "girls aren't interested" is about as true as saying "boys don't cry".

        I'd agree with most of what you said excepting this. Boys are told repeadtely over many years that feelings are a weakness, a sickness. To show emotion of any kind, other than unyielding stoicism, is met with hostility and ostracism, where you'll be compared to the opposite sex as a negative.

        That will never compared to general disinterest. Otherwise you'd have to explain the lack of male nurses along the same lines.

        • Your last line is kind of amusing to me. While they're still heavily outnumbered by women, there are plenty of male nurses in the hospitals of my region nowadays. I haven't seen more than a handful in nursing homes yet, though.

      • The assumption is "girls aren't interested" is about as true as saying "boys don't cry".

        Interestingly, both boys and girls are heavily influenced as children. Boys are influenced not to cry. You seem them cry fairly often up until about puberty, but even before puberty, they already cry less often than girls do. That is a direct effect of the social programming that we subject our children to.

        Girls are taught to be pretty princesses that will carry babies. Of what use is detailed intricate thought when your entire reason for existing is to be an attractive mate? Maybe we should look a little m

    • I spent a lot of time working (yeah, I am a grey neck beard type) in the computer networking field. I saw very few women join that field; the ones that did join were quite intelligent, but did not last.

      None of the women that I knew in my field ever stated why they eventually left but I will speculate based on my own observations:

      - The working hours could be long. I had a few 20 to 30 hour "work days" but the job got done, the problem got solved, the customer was happy.

      - The travel was not fun. Some months I

      • >None of the women that I knew in my field ever stated why they eventually left but I will speculate based on my own observations:

        I worked with a woman who was clearly destined to climb the IT career ladder. And she did, she even had kids and kept on going with barely a pause in her advancement.

        Her biggest obstacles were A) other women who irrationally resented her and undermined her at every opportunity and B) older male management that wanted an 'old boys' club and didn't want a woman around requiring

        • >None of the women that I knew in my field ever stated why they eventually left but I will speculate based on my own observations:

          I worked with a woman who was clearly destined to climb the IT career ladder. And she did, she even had kids and kept on going with barely a pause in her advancement.

          Her biggest obstacles were A) other women who irrationally resented her and undermined her at every opportunity and B) older male management that wanted an 'old boys' club and didn't want a woman around requiring them to behave appropriately. I don't know why she didn't crack and flee in tears. I'm pretty sure I would have, the stress and unfairness of her treatment was unbelievable.

          I have also seen what you describe.

          The tough ones, the ones that stick it out, have learned to play all the games and they are good at it, yet they only played those games when they had to. The old boys played games because that's all they knew. And those perennial victim women quickly proved to be just that and nothing more.

          I once worked for a lady that stuck it out, that made her way up the ladder. She was tough but she truly respected & developed the talent of her staff while hiring only the best pro

    • When I was in high school, around 2002, and taking these classes, the *one* girl in the class dropped when her boyfriend left the class.

      One of the students asked the teacher why there were no girls in the class, and he said, very candidly: "because they have better places to be."

      He explained exactly what he meant. It was concurrent enrollment in community college. Look at the girls in nursing, cosmetology, tons of other classes that were almost entirely women: if you were equally welcome there, would you ha

    • No matter what was tried we had a hard time recruiting girls.

      You have to get them before they are two. By the time they are two, they are already inundated with stories about what role a female can play. How many three year old girls run around calling themselves a pretty princess? Where do they get such ideas? The cartoons and kids shows that are being used to distract the children so the adults can do whatever adults want to do.

      I have seen this play out in front of my eyes dozens of times in my lifetime. :(

  • The problem with career diversity non-profits (Score:4, Insightful)

    by sinkskinkshrieks ( 6952954 ) on Friday April 19, 2024 @10:04PM (#64409550)
    While it seems like a good thing(tm), these type of non-profits rarely make a dent in the real world and that is their fundamental problem. The people who are any good in their target demo, they typically don't care about bra burning and don't want to deal with the crybully, victimhood-seeking whiners. If you want more women (and men) in STEM, repeal the NCLBA and fix education to not smother curiosity. Skip the identity celebration that bores almost everyone.
  • Doesn't she donate to a lot causes like this?
  • Weren't their events flooded with men claiming to be a women? Or was that some other woken women erasing organization? Funny how people and organizations say one thing, then do the opposite.
  • When the leadership of a group, organization or charity are making more $$$ than the people they are supposedly helping. They spent more $$ than their income. Another big reason why I don't give to charities !

  • Why ... (Score:3)

    by cascadingstylesheet ( 140919 ) on Saturday April 20, 2024 @06:53AM (#64410038) Journal

    ... did none of the devastated women (quoted in the story) pony up the missing 5% of the org's budget then?

    Or if they were never asked, why were they never asked?

  • First of all, the number of misogynist psychopaths in Slashdot are worrying. They sound like the raving homeless people I sometimes see on the street, devoid of any kind of social contact or decency.

    Second of all, this non-profit is one of hundreds that deal in the same space. Its last 1099 filing was 5 years ago, in which it noted that most of its funding was from the government. Who knows why they are closing down shop? Maybe they couldnâ(TM)t find officers to keep it going. It happens all the time.

    O

  • ...but I know a lot of charities that would be delighted and thrive on $4 million a year.

    I like how they frame it as some sort of tragedy, when they control their own purse strings.

  • grift ends (Score:4, Insightful)

    by groobly ( 6155920 ) on Saturday April 20, 2024 @01:21PM (#64410584)

    The ore to mine for this grift has been exhausted. Time to move on to another grift.

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