Girls and coding: female peer pressure scares them off

How can we encourage girls to enter the code? Catch 'em early

For three years, we conducted a major event coding in the UK has called on young people Rewired State. We invite people over 18 years or less to achieve together a wide range of local facilities for them, and build something from government data open. It ends with a festival source overnight at the Museum National Data Bletchley Park, with lectures and presentations of what young people have built.

In our first year, 2009, 50 youth participated, this time, we expect 500. A celebration of the question I regularly ask myself is: "Where are the Girls"

The answer is: more than 5% in the festival each year are girls. You can not have seen them all on stage, because some are uncomfortable speaking in public - especially if there is a risk that they are "bothered" as a geek. As a mother of two daughters, one aged 14, who has no interest in programming, and nine years who is fascinated by one - who were particularly interested in exploring the reasons for the absence of girl geeks for years, which simply reflects the extreme boys than girls in the adult world of programming code. Here are my findings:

Girls

be aware of self-awareness and social development around puberty and have enough to deal with him to negotiate his transfer to the school, where they feel more pressure to adapt, survive and build a new social group of friends.

encryption and digital dexterity is still a niche at a young age, self-taught by the student. It is often considered a little nerd in high school, which is not taught as part of the curriculum, although that is changing in secondary schools in September 2012. Therefore, in general, to which the code has been taught. Do you teach something you really should be covered as part of these lessons is a bit like doing extra chores -

why

, many teenagers ask, would anyone do this? There is no way that most of the hormones at issue, desperate to find your place in-the-world teenagers might ridicule or isolation do - let alone be open and proud of it. (The children of the same age and social problems do not measure their social value both for the purpose of peer review.)

Last but not least, there is not much young British superstar, geek, so they relate to men or women.

Fear of exposure to ridicule is important and that's why I fall YEARS largest turnout of women just before the event. Who enroll because they want, but leave school because they can not face the possible embarrassment. If they knew what would be announced by the painfully fresh. But even painfully fresh praise does not win against the pressure of the female peer group.

So what's the answer? I hate to be limited to just a matter of a young geek, but maybe solve the problem of scarcity of women programmers can make a dent in the whole question of education programming in the national program - despite Michael Gove vision of open education. Gove solution to open the possibility of computer education, where schools can find the talent and the means to do so, still focused on Secondary Education: GCSE, mainly we still suffer the same problems that attract girls. I'm sure some teachers succeed, of course, but in general anthropology continues to work against it as a general solution.

In my opinion, Year 8 is too late. We must begin to teach literacy and digital encoding as part of the curriculum in Year 5, when most children in mathematics is strong enough. The program has fostered a familiarity with computers and the computers and minds of the young are ready to start learning programming languages. In fact the primary school children are creative, enthusiastic and less likely to develop partnerships, good or bad, with some questions. If programming can be introduced as part of the core curriculum in Year 5, I would bet my last penny by the time children are drawn through the education system would be much less disparity between the sexes. Not to mention more talented young people, with a capacity to process data pending code concern and challenge each other to design and build digital products that you and I have not even begun to imagine.

• Therefore, make a simple change: teach programming to five years and thereafter make an important and necessary part of the curriculum. Then you will see the girls.

Mulqueeny Emma is the co-founder of the Rewired State

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