Feminist Coders

Achieving gender equality in STEM

Comment

Inspiration

Our inspiration for taking up the topic of gender discrimination in STEM jobs is simply because of the struggles women like us go through to land a job or get a degree in computer-related subjects and how women are discriminated against when they end up getting a job in male-dominant STEM industries. We know how it’s like to be one of the few girls in tech classes. Two of us are going to be college freshmen next year to study computer engineering and computer science, and we will soon be working in our respective professions. Feminist Coders is a way for us to advocate for more women’s representation in STEM workplaces.

What it does

The project displays various features that help women have a smooth experience in the male-dominant world of Computer Science. It has features like:

-Calendar of events: this feature helps display important dates for hackathons and competitions held across the world this year so young girls and women can participate in them.

-Statistics: facts and statistics that show how women were sidelined and faced decades of the wage gap and gender discrimination.

-Learn to code: video and step-by-step tutorials on various programming languages, web development, and game design.

-Job Prep: guides and advice on how to ace an interview and pass with flying colors, and navigate through work environments.

-Search engine: provides any other queries you have through a simple search bar.

How we built it

Our website was built using repl.it as the main platform. We added designs and colors using CSS, images and texts using HTML, and a side navigation bar and search engine using JavaScript.

Challenges we ran into

We faced the constant need to debug our programs often to keep them away from any sort of errors. The side navigation bar was difficult to implement because the buttons initially couldn’t link to different pages, but we were able to solve the issue by asking a mentor and editing the HTML code. Additionally, the search engine was not showing up on the website, but we were able to fix it with PHP. We also felt it was quite hard to deal with the difference in time zones since our three teammates were from different countries.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

Our prominent attribute is the calendar that lists upcoming events, including hackathons, team recruitments, summer camps, clubs, mentorship programs, and STEM competitions. Another accomplishment that we’re proud of is our side navigation bar. It was our first time coding one, so it took a lot of time to get the navigation bar to function. We are also proud of the many resources provided on our website, such as coding tutorials, books, statistics, and a search engine. Additionally, we turned several links into images for a visual look. Finally, we are proud of overcoming our different time zones to be able to meet and discuss our goals and designs.

What we learned

We learned that anything could be possible with teamwork while individual effort is equally important. This means trusting each other with distinct task responsibilities since we couldn’t code together due to time zones. We also learned new skills in JavaScript, CSS, and HTML when creating new functions and visuals. We would like to express our heartfelt gratitude to the CodeHers Collective for presenting us with this opportunity.

What's next for Feminist Coders

Some design editing will be needed for our website, and we will post additional events and resources as well. In the future, we could record our own coding tutorials, such as teaching women how to code a website like ours. Moreover, we could publish a book detailing how to succeed in the STEM world from high school to post-college years. The Feminist Coders are looking forward to empowering young girls and women into pursuing careers in STEM without having to be afraid of what lies ahead of them.

Built With

Share this project:

Updates