SEATTLE (AP) – Free rent and groceries were selling points, but college freshman Aishwarya Mandyam was more excited about the chance to connect with like-minded women when she moved into the eight-bedroom house offered up by a Seattle software startup.
“There’s inspiration. There’s tech support,” said the computer science major who is interested in a career that combines medicine and technology.
Mandyam and seven other women are sharing a 3,100-square home, rent-free, blocks from the University of Washington. TUNE, a software startup that provides technology for marketers, is paying the rent for the house with the goal of creating a supportive community for UW women interested in computer science and technology.
It’s the latest effort to get more women into the male-dominated industry. Women make up more than half of the nation’s workforce, but they still play a small role in inventing technology, according to the National Center for Women and Information Technology.
Efforts like the TUNE-sponsored house and numerous other initiatives are trying to increase the number of women interested in the field. Organizations such as Girls Who Code, a national nonprofit, are introducing more high school girls to computer science. Women-only training programs such as Hackbright Academy in San Francisco and Ada Developers Academy in Seattle are also teaching women coding and other technical skills.