Getting women into coding not only benefits those who are looking for a steady job and inspiring employment that could potentially change the world. It also means getting the diverse voice and ideas that will result in the next big innovation. One private/public partnership has stepped in to give middle school and high school girls the opportunity to get hands-on coding experience with the hopes that some of them will continue their education and contribute to the future of the industry.

Reshma Saujani, founder of Girls Who Code, and Marissa Shorenstein, president at AT&T New York, sat down with Jeff Frick, cohost of theCUBE, from the SiliconANGLE Media team, during the Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing in Houston, Texas, to talk about how they are approaching education, diversity and partnerships.

Closing the gender gap

The percentage of women earning a computer science bachelor’s degree has dropped from 37 percent to 18 percent since the early 80s, according to some estimates. Girls Who Code aims to close that gender gap by providing classrooms for high school students, partnered with major companies, as well as after school programs and summer intensives.

In four years, they have taught over 10,000 girls across 40 states how to computer program by providing meaningful projects that give them hands on skills ands inspiration.

Public/private partnering

By partnering with AT&T the first year, Saujani was able to get the support they needed in New York for the Girls Who Code program.

“We believe that it takes public/private partnerships to ensure that we are teaching our young women the skills that they need to compete for jobs in the 21^st century,” said Shorenstein. AT&T is just one of the many companies that are looking to diversify their talent pool and raise the voice of those who have been underrepresented in the industry.

Watch the full interview below, and be sure to check out more of SiliconANGLE and theCUBE’s coverage of Grace Hopper Celebration of Woman In Computing. And join in on the conversation by CrowdChatting with theCUBE hosts.

Photo by SiliconANGLE