Top 10 Reasons You Should Help New Orleans WIT FundDat!

About the author: Torrie Adams, Product Manager at Kickboard, founded New Orleans Women in Technology after a presentation at BarCamp in early July.

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According to the latest State of Women in America Report, Louisiana is one of the worst places for women to live and work in the country. The report released in early September brought to light that a large percentage of women in Louisiana live in poverty and that the state totes one of the highest gender wage gap in the United States. With stats like these, it’s amazing that an organization like New Orleans Women in Technology wasn’t started sooner. The groups began their efforts in August of this year and are now running a crowdfunding campaign on FundDat to expand their operations in 2014.

WITAfter attending a presentation about how to decrease the technology gender gap, a few local women created an organization to start attacking the problem. Soon they developed a clear mission to increase the salaries of women in IT in New Orleans to be equal to what men in the field are earning and to increase the number of women in IT in New Orleans by 75% by 2020.

Now that you know a little more about what this much needed organization is up to, see our Top 10 reasons why you should help New Orleans WIT FundDat!

  1. 22% of Louisiana women live in poverty, the highest rate in America.
  2. New Orleans WIT has gained 70 members in only 4 months!
  3. Women in Louisiana earn .67 cents to every dollar that men earn in the state.
  4. Women comprise only 34% of the IT market in NOLA, despite being half of the workforce.
  5. New Orleans WIT will host a Father/Daughter Hackathon in 2014 & you can be a sponsor!
  6. You’ll get a cool t-shirt that shows how much you love and support women in technology.
  7. New Orleans WIT is establishing a scholarship fund to send women in NOLA to conferences & training.
  8. Only 29% of OPEN Computer Programming jobs in Louisiana will be filled by 2018!
  9. New Orleans WIT hosts monthly roundtables, regular events, and conferences that even the guys are invited to!
  10. Let’s face it guys, the bottom line is that NERDY GIRLS CTRL THE WORLD! Just ask Beyonce