Gaming company Zynga has announced that it has teamed up with Girls Who Code in support of International Women’s Day 2021. With a mission to raise awareness and support for women in tech, Zynga has pledged $100,000 from its Social Impact Fund to enable Girls Who Code (GWC) to support girls at all points throughout their educational journey from third grade into the workforce.
“Zynga is honored to team up with Girls Who Code to help forge a more inclusive industry in tech and games by expanding opportunities for girls and women across the globe. Through their virtual workshops, school clubs, mentorship programs, networking and more, we are hoping to build the next generation of women in STEAM to help them to prepare and thrive in the tech workforce. With an incredible group of women at Zynga already doing so much to support our studios and employees around the world, it’s important that we take positive steps to help strengthen the future of our industry for years to come,” said Zynga chief legal officer Phuong Phillips.
GWC now has more than 80,000 college-aged alumni, who are majoring in Computer Science and related fields at 15 times the U.S. average. At its current pace, the organisation is on track to close the gender gap in new entry-level Computer Science and related jobs by 2030. With Zynga’s support, GWC will continue to expand its free Clubs and alumni programming, helping young women unlock opportunities in the technical workforce and connecting young women to role models and mentors to support them on their journey in tech.
“We know that passionate, diverse, ambitious young women are the key to transforming our workplace and our world. We’re excited to partner with Zynga this International Women’s Day to send a loud signal to young women everywhere that they belong in technology and that they have support in their journey from school into the workforce. Zynga and Girls Who Code share a vision of a more fair and equitable workforce, where women of all backgrounds rise to the top,” said Girls Who Code CEO Dr. Tarika Barrett.
This March, Zynga’s social channels will be shining a spotlight on some of the incredible women who help to promote a more inclusive workplace for Zynga’s family of studios around the world. Furthermore Small Giant Games, a subsidiary of Zynga will be calling on its global network of players in Empires & Puzzles to help raise awareness by changing their alliance description to include the hashtag #ChooseToChallenge – the theme for this year’s International Women’s Day. From now until 14 March, a raised hand emoji has been included exclusively for the in-game chat function and, additionally, a raised hand avatar pin will also be rewarded to players who participate in this event.
