Code.org co-founder Hadi Partovi speaks at the 2013 GeekWire Summit.
Code.org co-founder Hadi Partovi speaks at the 2013 GeekWire Summit.

Why aren’t there more women working in technology?

That’s likely one of the most highly-debated questions in today’s tech world, and the discussions heated up again last week after Y Combinator co-founder Paul Graham was interviewed — and later we found out, misquoted — by The Information.

Now Hadi Partovi, longtime entrepreneur and co-founder of Seattle-based non-profit Code.org, is chiming in with his two cents on the matter.

In a blog post published today, Partovi outlines the “real reason there aren’t more women in tech.” He lists three problems:

  1. Computer science is not taught in U.S. schools
  2. As an elective, it doesn’t contribute to graduation requirements
  3. The nerd stereotype is proven to drive away women

Partovi notes that it was actually different three decades ago, when young women earned 37 percent of computer science degrees, compared to 18 percent today.

“Computer science is for every 21st century student,” Partovi writes. “How do we start making that a reality? Simple. Teach it in our schools. Show girls that other girls are trying it too.”

Code.org recently reached 10 million students last month — half of them girls — with its “Hour of Code” movement that encouraged kids to spend one hour learning how to code.

Partovi founded Code.org with his brother, Ali, in an effort to help expand computer science education. Here’s Hadi Partovi talking about Code.org and the computer science education crisis in the U.S. at the 2013 GeekWire Summit:

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