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: https://slashdot.org/story/427440
TFW you can't afford a GF who codes :marseysigh:
TFW you can't afford a GF who codes :marseysigh:
@m0xEE Disappointing. The comments have some interesting points about the organisation, as well as the expected sweeping negative ones about these sorts of ventures.
@m0xEE Yeah, I'd say the landscape of "Women in tech" has changed in the last decade or so. Programmes that were novel and vital should have become embedded in diversity and inclusion initiatives. And there is still a huge gender imbalance in many industries, so orgs do have to analyse what's happened in that time.
@m0xEE I mean I remember reading in 2012 that girls were getting turned off science and maths by about 10 years old. So if initiatives targeted post-16, undergraduates or those entering employment, that's going to be a very slow improvement.
Yes, it's sad indeed!
I've always found their name funny in a good way and the idea of course is just great. I'm not that much in the loop, but these news come up every now and then and to me it looked like the organization became a shadow of its former self and was more into "fetishisation" or hipster-isation of STEM than getting young women actually interested in it. Mind you, I do not imply that it should be all work and no play, but spreading the word is one thing, making it come through is often the other — when this happens it's easy to lose the right balance and it turns into imitation of the original mission.
This starts attracting more people who like to look busy and on whom you have to spend budget, but fewer donors willing to contribute — and this probably led to their financial trouble.
But I won't worry too much, the idea behind it is still interesting, so I hope there would be others who can pick up the flag and carry it on. The bigger the organizations become, the easier it get for them to lose sight of their core mission and crises often help the people involved get back on track.