Avenger of the Week | Reshma Saujani, Founder of Girls Who Code

photo credit: Fuzheado [CC BY-SA 4.0], via Wikimedia Commons

In 2010, as New Yorker Reshma Saujani ran for Congress, she noticed the large number of boys in computing classes compared to girls during campaign school visits. She lost the race but still made history as the first Indian American to run for a Congressional seat and, despite having no tech background, she went on to address the technology disparity she witnessed by founding the international non-profit, Girls Who Code, in 2012.

Working to close the gender gap in technology and change the image of what programmers look like, Girls Who Code has introduced more than 450,000 girls to computer skills through summer immersion programs, clubs, code-at-home programs, and other tech activities in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, and India in the past seven years, and it continues to grow. The target group is 6th to 12th grader girls. While acknowledging that the gender gap is still widening, Girls Who Code notes that girls from their programs major in computer science in college at 15 times the rate of others.

Saujani is also author of the bestselling books Girls Who Code: Learn to Code and Change the World and Brave, Not Perfect: Women Who Don't Wait in Line. She delivered a TED Talk, “Teach Girls to be Brave, Not Perfect” in 2016 that has 3 million views, and she most recently advocated for A Marshall Plan for Moms, federal legislation that will benefit working mothers.

The child of an Indian couple who came to America as refugees when they fled oppression in Uganda, Saujani was raised in the Chicago area and graduated from the University of Illinois. She went on to earn a master’s degree from the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University and a law degree from Yale University. Following several years working as a lawyer and in finance in New York City, volunteering to represent asylum seekers, and being involved in the Democratic Party, she went into city government as Deputy Public Advocate. She ran unsuccessfully to be Public Advocate in the 2013 primary.

“I don’t like to do small things. If I’m going to do something, I’m going to really make an impact.”

— Reshma Saujani

Saujani has been featured on a dozen lists of notable people compiled by organizations including Fortune, Crain’s, the Wall Street Journal, the New York Daily News, CNBC, and City and State.

Earlier this year, she stepped down as chief executive officer of Girls Who Code but remains chair of its board, and we definitely expect to hear and see more from her.

For inspiring girls and women and creating concrete avenues to achieve their goals in technology and in life, Reshma Saujani is our Avenger of the Week.

"I don't like to do small things. If I'm going to do something, I'm going to really make an impact." @ReshmaSaujani, @GirlsWhoCode founder, is @GenderAvenger's #AvengerOfTheWeek for her courage and impact on the lives of girls and women. #GenderAvenger https://www.genderavenger.com/blog/avenger-of-the-week-reshma-saujani