Year 6 contribute to 'Women in Computing' Festival in Cambridge

Following our highly successful Year 6 visit in October to the Centre For Computing History here in Cambridge, we were asked to be the sole contributors to a display being prepared as part of the museum’s ‘Women In Computing’ festival.

The girls were asked to submit their ideas on the theme of ‘What Does A Computer Scientist Look Like?’ in order to try to dispel the typical stereotypes that still stubbornly persist about women in technology-related industries. 

The Centre for Computing History says that despite young girls performing better than their male counterparts at GCSE, they are still less likely to pursue a tech career. They wonder if this is due to a lack of history about the contributions made by women in the past and are endeavouring to make sure these contributions form a part of our modern day perceptions about women, computing and technology.

"The stories told here (at the Centre) merely scratch the surface of women's tech history, but if a single person is inspired by them then they have served their purpose"

The staff at the museum were very impressed with both the quality of the girls’ artwork and the diversity of the women portrayed.  The display is now in pride of place in the main teaching classroom at the museum, where it will be seen by school groups and members of the public over the next few months.

Find out more about GCSE Computer Science at St Mary's