Women in Tech
Did you know that some of the major technologies we use today were developed by women? Or that some of our most used social media platorms are led by women?
Here, we spotlight some of the female figures who have made, or are making, waves in IT.
Ada Lovelace is best known as the first ever computer programmer; she contributed to the development of Charles Babbage’s Analytcal Engine, the first general computer. Lovelace thought carefully about how this machine should carry out calculatons and detailed applicatons that are related to how computers are utlised even today. She is commemorated annually on the second Tuesday of October as Ada Lovelace Day, celebratng all women in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) industries.
Mary Wilkes is regarded as the first home computer user, and she helped develop what is now considered the first personal computer. Wilkes was a programmer and instructons author who worked on the LINC computer, for which she wrote its operatng program manual and programmed its LAP6 operatng system in her parents’ home.
Computer scientst Adele Goldberg is well known for creatng the design for the modern graphical user interfaces. She created some of the most well-known computer languages in the world, including the object-oriented Smalltalk-80. The majority of our contemporary programmes, like apps, are writen using object-oriented programming languages.
Susan Wojcicki worked in the technology industry for over 20 years, serving as CEO of YouTube from 2014 to 2023 and previously holding the positon of senior vice-president of advertsing and commerce at Google, where she suggested acquiring YouTube rather than keeping Google Video in competton. How did she end up working at Google? Wojcicki let the Google founders use her garage as an office space before joining the company as its 16th employee and first marketng manager. She contributed to the creaton of Google Books, AdWords, and AdSense.
The founder and CEO of Girls Who Code, Saujani has spent over ten years promotng women’s economic empowerment and atemptng to eliminate the gender wage gap in the tech industry. Girls Who Code provides a variety of services, such as books, clubs programmes, summer programmes, college and career programmes, and internet resources.
Sources:
