In recent weeks, companies like Google, Yahoo, Facebook, and Twitter have released data on diversity and gender that reveals disparity. But efforts are underway to make a change. CCTV America’s Mark Niu reports.

Google started the trend of revealing diversity data, which earned praise for transparency, but also raised criticism for the gap in the numbers.

Previously, a team from Google spent months researching the gender gap only to discover that less than one percent of high school girls show interest in majoring in computer science.

Google’s Made With Code project aims to tackled this issue, with a $150 million commitment over the next three years to get girls into coding. Made With Code seeks to inspire girls through stories of successful female coders and how they apply it to their passions in life.

Google’s Kirsten Cahill showed CCTV America’s Mark Niu how a coding exercise on the Made With Code website allows girls of all ages to 3-D print customized bracelets.

Another sign of industry reform comes from a group called Girls Who Code that partners with both Google and Twitter, where it’s holding a seven-week training program for 20 high school girls.

Twitter’s chief technology officer Adam Messinger said that he’s not entirely sure of the reasons for the male-female imbalance, but he said it’s important to invest in programs like Girls Who Code now since it will take many years for the impact to be felt in the industry.

Messinger said that the goal is to get the tech industry to parallel the gender makeup of its users because when designers relate better to their customers everybody wins.

IT companies strive to encourage more female coders

In recent weeks, companies like Google, Yahoo, Facebook, and Twitter have released data on diversity and gender revealing disparity. But efforts are underway to make a change. CCTV America’s Mark Niu reports.