Getting More Women Into Tech by Removing Hurdles

Getting More Women Into Tech by Removing Hurdles

Despite all of the discussion about the need for more women in IT, research shows that genuine progress requires better innovation. Women obtained around one-third of computer science degrees 35 years ago. By 2016, the proportion had dropped to less than 20%. Although that figure appears to have peaked—in 2021, women earned 22 percent1 of computing degrees—closing the gender gap in tech, particularly for women of color, remains a challenge.

However, Judith Spitz has identified a viable strategy for accelerating advancement. After 30 years at Verizon, where she progressed through the ranks to become CIO, she departed in 2016 to lead a City University of New York effort that resulted in a 94% increase in undergraduate women enrolling in computer science classes. In 2020, she expanded on her success by establishing Break Through Tech, a nonprofit based at Cornell Tech that collaborates with academia and business to recruit more undergraduate women2 into computer science and link them with organizations that would not have discovered them otherwise.

Spitz recently spoke with Sarah Gitlin, an associate partner in McKinsey's Washington, DC, office, about one of Break Through Tech's basic initiatives, "Sprinternships," and how it is launching underrepresented undergraduate women into tech professions.

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