Our Programs - ChickTech: Dallas

What We Do

ACT-W (Advancing the Careers of Technical Women)

We hold events for technical professionals of all genders (with a focus on the needs of women), ages, backgrounds, and experiencel evels. Our goal is to keep women in STEM engaged and supported, and to help build confidence in women looking to break into a technical field. We want our event attendees to make friends, learn new skills, gain leadership experience, and build a supportive and comforting community. Our events range from networking to hands-on workshops. Learn more about ACT-W Conferences and our ACT-W+ online membership platform.

ChickTech: High School

Our high school program revolves around getting high school students interested in and excited about technology! We try to find girls and non-binary students who already demonstrate the qualities of great engineers, but who might not recognize it on their own. Learn more about ChickTech: High School.

Why do we do it?

Women represent more than half of the overall workforce, but they hold less than a quarter of technical jobs. We know that women and girls are just as capable and motivated as men to succeed in technology and engineering fields. So what’s holding them back? It’s a combination of things. Girls are often less encouraged than boys to pursue STEM fields because of social factors that have conditioned them to believe they wouldn’t be good at that. Nationally, there’s been a decline in the percentage of Computer Science degrees earned by women: from 37% in 1984 to less than 12% in 2011. And once women enter technology careers, they are more likely than men to leave them. We think a big part of this has to do with workplace culture and a lack of female mentors and allies. Our High School and Career programming aims to tackle these issues by creating environments where girls and women can thrive.