Grrrrl power: getting women into technology

Earlier this year, a national study revealed that while women and girls have made significant progress in the sciences — largely in medicine and the biological sciences — gains have stalled and even eroded in engineering and computer science.

Without women as a vital part of the workforce, the technology industry is missing too many bright people who could lead to different decisions for allocating research dollars, targeting drug-testing protocols and developing technology to benefit communities.

Some efforts have already been made to open scientific study and work for women. But as the report "Balancing the Equation: Where are Women and Girls in Science, Engineering and Technology?" by the National Council for Research on Women points out, those efforts have been sporadic and disjointed.

We know what works. Programs that provide for cooperative, hands-on learning experiences attract girls. When classes are cross-disciplinary — for example, relating computer science to real-world applications like health, politics and art — more girls are likely to sign up and stay with it.

In Seattle Public Schools, IGNITE (Inspiring Girls Now in Technology Evolution) was designed to persuade more girls to sign up for computer classes. Entering its third year, IGNITE is credited with increasing the number of girls taking the district's basic computer courses.

IGNITE is so simple and successful that it should be broadened to middle and elementary schools.

Recently, program coordinators went to Franklin High School, where about 100 students gathered to hear from women working in the technology field. All of the students were female. The professionals spoke about the unique perspective women bring to the high-tech arena and how girls can begin taking courses in high school to prepare themselves for a career in technology.

At the end of the morning, the young women spoke about having a better sense of the career options available to them.

Not all, or even half, are expected to go into technology, but many said their interest in computers had finally expanded beyond the Internet and e-mail. They planned to take more computer courses and spend more time tooling around with computer languages and applications the way boys do. And that's a good start.