Women and Tech Innovation

Opening Doors to the Industry

Women, and especially women of color, are chronically underrepresented across the tech ecosystem. Women account for fewer than one in four computing graduates and fewer than one in three employees in technical roles. Our partners focus on correcting these imbalances and setting women up for successful careers in tech.

Women face many hurdles to entering the tech industry, and our partners are working to dismantle barriers in a variety of ways:

The Center for Inclusive Computing works with colleges and universities to remove obstacles that prevent students—especially women—from discovering and thriving in computing programs.

The Computing Research Association for Widening Participation focuses on increasing the number of undergraduate computing research opportunities for women and ensuring that they have the technical training to shape the AI research agenda for our country.

Last Mile Education Fund helps technology and engineering students nearing graduation overcome financial emergencies that could otherwise interrupt their education. Through small grants, most of which are under $1,000, the Fund has helped thousands of students stay on track to graduate and enter high-paying fields.

Three young female computer programmers looking at a monitor and working together in an office. — Photo by SrdjanPav/Getty Images

Supporting Female Founders

In addition to helping more women of all backgrounds start their careers at tech companies, we want to position more women to shape the tech innovation of the future. That’s why we work alongside our partners to get more venture capital in the hands of women founders.

Today, only about 2 percent of venture capital in the U.S. is invested in women-founded companies, making it difficult for women to secure the funding they need to turn their ideas into success stories.

Our partners are working to ensure a more diverse group of people—including women of all backgrounds—are able to control, access, and benefit from venture capital funding. For example, we support Recast Accelerate, a program started by Recast Capital that helps emerging fund managers raise bigger funds, faster. By changing the face of power in VC, we can diversify the group of people creating the technologies and products that impact our everyday lives.

A woman having a conversation with a group of her colleagues at a table in their office. — Photo by AzmanL/Getty Images

Unlocking AI’s Potential

While AI has the potential to improve our lives, there is also a risk that it will deepen today’s inequalities. We partner with organizations that are working to increase diversity in the AI workforce so we can unlock AI’s potential to drive innovation that better meets all people’s needs.

Women, and especially women of color, are even more underrepresented in AI than in technical roles overall. Our partners focus on fast-tracking women and other historically underrepresented populations into the field.

AI4ALL, co-founded by AI visionary Dr. Fei-Fei Li, helps more students see AI as a viable career path and develop the technical skills to pursue it. Break Through Tech’s AI specialization program works with universities and companies to equip college students with foundational AI and machine learning skills, relevant experience, and mentorship.

We also support partners that are working to address harmful biases in AI, including the Algorithmic Justice League (AJL). The AJL is dedicated to expanding public awareness about the dangers AI can pose. Its founder Dr. Joy Buolamwini shared her landmark research on discrimination within facial recognition technologies in her popular TED Talk, “How I’m Fighting Bias in Algorithms.”