It’s not a standard approach for a women’s organization.
The Tampa chapter of the global Women Who Code nonprofit organization is seeing an uptick in male as well as female attendance to its events and trainings as it works to bridge the gender gap and improve workplace communication.
“The biggest challenge is in keeping women in technology,” said Kiki Roeder, director of the local chapter. “Only 26 percent of professional computing jobs go to women and there’s a high drop-off rate.”
On average, about a quarter of the Women Who Code Tampa event attendees are now men, she said, attributing the overall attendance boost to a push for expert female speakers from organizations that so far this year has included the Forbes Finance Council, Citigroup and LinkedIn.
Like many other industries, IT has historically suffered from a “boys club” atmosphere that excluded and objectified women. While improvements have been made, women continue to be far outnumbered in tech-centered workplaces and corporate settings. It’s incredibly powerful, therefore, for the organization to flip the switch with female engineers as the majority in the room, Roeder said.
“It’s important that the genders talk and see women exhibiting leadership and skill,” Roeder said.
The collaboration and networking opportunities are open to all, facilitating valuable and sometimes difficult conversations.
“We do have a lot of men who ask, 'How can I communicate with women?' They want to do the right thing,” she said.
Thanks to a strategy of increasing the frequency of events and attendees, the local chapter of Women Who Code has added about 150 new members in the last year, with about 900 total current members, including recent graduates, developers, software engineers, technical executives and more. Events, which range from Code + Coffee meetups to all-day app-building workshops, are free thanks to local sponsors and community partners. The organization also provides members with mentorship opportunities and sponsors them so they can attend conferences outside of the region.
On a larger scale, however, the career challenges and holdups discussed during the events aren’t exclusive to one gender. Consider work-life balance and the 100-hour “hustle culture” for example.
“The whole hustle until you’re basically falling asleep at your desk isn’t healthy for anyone,” Roeder said. “Men too should be able to go home and spend time with their kids.”
“Finding middle ground and commonalities can make everyone’s jobs easier.”
