This article was taken from the March 2013 issue of Wired magazine. Be the first to read Wired's articles in print before they're posted online, and get your hands on loads of additional content by <span class="s1">subscribing online.
Henrietta Kekäläinen wants women to gatecrash the programming and software-development party, currently crowded by men. The 24-year-old Finn organises a Helsinki-based non-profit that organises weekend workshops to give women their first taste of writing code to build web apps. "Women have a lot to contribute and they think in a different way," she says. "It's easier to be in our workshop than a Javascript meet with 100 guys drinking beer. You don't have to pretend you are an expert in HTML or CSS."
What started as a beginners workshop in Helsinki in November 2010 quickly went global as Rails Girls, with free events in locations from Buenos Aires to Singapore. About 50 such events were held in 2012, and its online city application for this year is currently running at 120.
Cofounder Linda Liukas believes its strength lies in its hands-on approach to coding. Participants have a copy of Ruby on Rails -- an open-source web-application framework -- on their laptop, and local developers teach the basics and explain the jargon. "We focus on doing it, rather than talking about it. They won't understand every detail, but they will have built something; that's an empowering feeling."
And don't be put off by the "girls" tag. "I grew up with the Spice Girls, so for me that word is positive," says Liukas. "Women have so much creativity and energy; we want to bring that into the world of developing. Only then will we see the amazing things they can bring to the tech world."
This article was originally published by WIRED UK
