Girls Who Code and Apple honour female future tech leaders

March is the month for Girls Who Code and Apple Inc to highlight the stories and work of female developers, musicians, artists, photographers and entrepreneurs.

As part of its community education initiative, Apple is partnering with Girls Who Code to support new coding opportunities for girls and young women in the US.

Using the Everyone Can Code Curriculum, 90,000 girls and Girls Who Code Club facilitators in all 50 states can learn to use Swift, Apple’s easy to learn programming language that hundreds of thousands of apps are built with. Swift training will also be provided for club leaders to help expand the number and reach of coding clubs.

Apple said they support educational opportunities for students of all ages and backgrounds, and advocates for girls’ right to access the same learning opportunities as their male counterparts through its Developer Academies, Everyone Can Code curriculum and work with the Malala Fund and National Center for Women and Information Technology.

“Women have earned the opportunity to have our ideas shape the future,”
– Lisa Jackson, Apple’s vice president of Environment, Policy and Social Initiatives.

“We’re excited to support Girls Who Code as they empower girls to be the developers and tech innovators of tomorrow.”

In select Apple stores around the world, visitors can attend over 60 sessions in the “Made By Women” series, led by artists, musicians, photographers, app developers, scientists and entrepreneurs designed to inspire the next generation in hands-on sessions to unlock creativity and take their passions to the next level.

Sessions include an App Lab at Apple Causeway Bay with Hillary Yip, a 14-year-old founder and CEO of a language exchange platform, who will lead a session on developing and pitching ideas to build the ideal social platform. Visitors can also attend an Art Lab at Apple Michigan Avenue with Emily Grasile, the Chicago Field Museum’s chief curiosity correspondent, who will teach participants to incorporate small specimens from the Field Museum’s collection into vast landscapes using the Procreate app on iPad Pro and Apple Pencil.

Sessions with creators will be held in select stores in Singapore, Kyoto, Hong Kong, London, Milan, Paris, Dubai, San Francisco, Chicago, New York and Los Angeles.

On International Women’s Day, the App Store will celebrate the creative women at the forefront of apps and games. Go behind the scenes on the App Store Today tab with women like Lisy Kane, a game producer and co-founder of the startup Girl Geek Academy, which aims to bring more women into gaming and tech. App Store customers will also be treated to special collections highlighting games featuring women who have changed the world and some of gaming’s greatest heroines.

Throughout the month, Apple Music will be featuring some of the most visionary women in music with highly curated playlists and editorial packages, and Beats 1 will host a 24-hour takeover with shows programmed to highlight inspiring women.

Customers can also explore iTunes for curated selections of movies and TV series featuring dynamic female characters, check out Apple Podcasts to listen to shows created by inspiring women and visit Apple Books to find books that elevate the stories and experiences of women. Apple Watch users across the world can also earn an exclusive Activity Award and stickers for Messages when they complete a walk, run or wheelchair workout of 1.6km or more on 8 March.