On International Women’s Day, it is worth noting the grim picture of IT tech sector – the representation of women in tech is dismally low. There is just one woman engineer as against three men engineers. The overall representation of women in the engineering workforce of IT firms is just 34 percent. And out of 5 million developers in India, only 18 percent are women.
To eradicate the gender gap, women coders or programmers need to be encouraged to continue with their chosen career. And to increase the demand for top talent in the industry, new women programmers need to be brought into the system.
Deepa Madhavan, director, Enterprise Data Services at PayPal told Analytics India Magazine, “We cannot dispute the gender imbalance in the technology field. Even though women choose the field of technology as a career option, the attrition rate at the mid-management and senior levels are high due to both professional and personal pressures. This attrition can lead to disinterest among women towards a career in the field of technology.”
Big companies like Google, Adobe, Accenture, Walmart, among others are clamouring for better representation of women in the IT sector. Thanks, to their valuable campaign the number of women is growing in IT sector and they are coming out of the shadows to participate during the hackathons and other tech events.
Here we take a lowdown at the five interesting women-only hackathons and tech events in which coding enthusiasts can take part:
1. Wonder Coders
Walmart Labs is launching a hackfest exclusively for women, who can create and innovate through technology. Starting from April 19 to 20, women will build products under following themes: health and fitness, wearables (IOT), Travel, social, reinventing retail. So far 1,453 participants have registered for the hackathon. As it is a physical hackathon it will be conducted in Walmart Labs office premises in Bengaluru.
Eligibility
- Both individuals and teams can compete, but they must identify as a woman. No male participants are allowed.
- No coding experience needed.
- Maximum number of participants in one team is 2 people
How To Apply
- If you are a female and you love coding, visit the website to register now. Deadline is March 21.
- You do not have to pay anyone to register yourself for the Hackathon.
Prize
- Top three teams to be awarded Rs 1,00,000/- each
2. International Women’s Hackathon 2018
HackerEarth and Schlumberger are conducting an online Hackathon targeted at women developers across the globe, with an aim to encourage them to take up programming. The hackathon is live now, it started from February 20 and will go on till March 12. Women developers will build products under any of the following four themes – women’s health and safety, economic freedom, social impact, innovation.
Eligibility
- Both individuals and teams can participate
- A maximum number of contestants in one team is 3 people
- You need not have a coding experience.
How to Apply
- Interested hackathon enthusiasts may visit the website to apply.
Prize
- Prizes include $2500 for the winning team, $1500 for the runners-up and $1000 for the second runners-up.
3. Anita’s Moonshot Codeathon
The main goal of this online codeathon is to bring women from interdisciplinary backgrounds to produce a creative solution to a socio-cultural or socio-economic problem. Simply, a diverse team is needed to solve a problem in their community with the online hackathon. Registration is now closed and the winner will be announced on March 30.
Eligibility
- Both individuals and teams can compete, but they must identify as a woman
- Maximum number of women contestants in one team is 5 people
- No coding experience necessary
Prize
- Grand prize winners get $10,500 for a team of 5 members
- Full scholarships to Grace Hopper Celebration 2018
4. Broadridge CODE-BEE 2.0
Broadridge is conducting an online hackathon challenge targeted at women. It will be 48 hours non-stop coding marathon. Before you take up the online challenge, you should participate in programming practice challenge. The sample challenge will enable you to understand how to participate in programming challenges on HackerEarth. It will give you a detailed information on how programming questions should be attempted. The sample challenge will also give you the details about the HackerEarth judge
Eligibility
Only women participants will be considered. No male contestant allowed.
How to Apply
The programming challenge will begin on March 23 and will end on March 25. Click on the website to register immediately. You will receive a reminder email 3 hours before the challenge begins only if you registered for the challenge.
To participate in this programming challenge, follow the steps:
- Register for the challenge
- Visit the challenge page on
- Click participate in the challenge
Before you attempt programming questions, you should choose a language from the list.
All inputs for the programming problems are from STDIN and output to STDOUT.
Prize
Top 3 winners will get up to Rs 100000.
5. Women Who Code
Women Who Code is the largest and most active community of engineers dedicated to inspiring women to excel in technology careers. The events are intended to inspire women to excel in technology careers. The event is scheduled for March 23.
Who Should Join?
The community is for professional women in technology careers, including software engineers, developers, UX/UI designers, data scientists, among others. Aspiring coders can also participate.
What to Expect?
The events will offer free hands-on technical events, study groups, panel discussions, lightning talks and keynotes featuring influential tech industry experts, innovators and investors. The idea is to build the skills the participants need to raise their professional profile and achieve career success.
How to Join
Visit the website, if you are interested to attend the event.
