Less than 25% of STEM jobs in Ireland are filled by women Code First: Girls launches in Dublin in partnership with Bank of America Merrill Lynch 

Code First: Girls aims to encourage more women into tech and entrepreneurship

Thursday, 13 October 2016 - Code First: Girls, an initiative aimed at encouraging more women to take up roles in technology and entrepreneurship, is hosting its inaugural event, ‘Hack Your Career’, in Dublin today in partnership with Bank of America Merrill Lynch and their Women in Technology and Operations (WIT&O) advocacy network.

According to the Central Statistics Office, less than 25% of STEM jobs are filled by women in Ireland.  Code First: Girls is trying to change this by focusing on developing women’s technical skills in coding and IT, and connecting young professional women to a community of other talented and like-minded women who can support their professional development. In bringing Code First: Girls to Dublin, students are given the opportunity to hear some of Bank of America Merrill Lynch’s tech employees share first-hand experience and advice on how to succeed in the sector.

Code First: Girls has a number of similar initiatives lined up in Ireland over the coming months including a coding course for girls not directly enrolled in tech-related courses, hosted and supported by Dublin Institute of Technology (DIT).  As part of the partnership with Bank of America Merrill Lynch, two of the course tutors will be bank employees.

Speaking at today’s event, Peter Keegan, country executive for Ireland at Bank of America Merrill Lynch, said: “We are delighted to support such a worthwhile social enterprise as it launches in Dublin. The bank’s Women in Technology & Operations mission is to attract, develop and retain female talent in technology, and partnering with Code First: Girls gives us the opportunity to show our commitment to furthering women’s careers in this space. We wish Code First: Girls the very best in their endeavours in Dublin and look forward to supporting them at this, and at upcoming events.”

Dr Charlotte Fereday, Community Programmes Manager, Code First: Girls said: “Code First: Girls have been working with Bank of America Merrill Lynch for three years and they have been amazing supporters. They are continuing to help us achieve our mission of getting more women into technology and entrepreneurship. With the bank’s support we have taught over 2.5 thousand women to code for free. Our alumni have gone on to become software developers, digital strategists and do other digital roles at a host of companies across the world. Bank of America Merrill Lynch has generously hosted a number of Hack Your Career events at their London and Chester offices, and we’re really excited to now be hosted at their Dublin office. We also now have bank staff teaching on our Dublin community coding course as volunteer instructors as well as speaking at the event. This will help us to inspire more women to consider technology as a career option, and develop the skills they need to be successful. We’re delighted to continue working with them in such a positive and impactful way.”

Code First: Girls is a social enterprise that has delivered over £1.5 million of free education over the past three years, and taught over 2500 women how to code for free. Additionally over the past 18 months, they have had over 3,000 women participate in one of their courses or events, and have supported companies to recruit better tech talent into their firms.

At Bank of America Merrill Lynch, our focus on Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) factors is critical to fulfilling our purpose of helping make people’s financial lives better. Our commitment to growing our business responsibly is embedded in every aspect of our company. It is demonstrated in the inclusive and supportive workplace we create for our employees, the responsible products and services we offer our clients, and the impact we make around the world in helping local economies thrive. An important part of this work is forming strong partnerships with not-for-profits and advocate groups, such as community and environmental organisations, in order to bring together our collective networks and expertise to achieve greater impact. Learn more at www.bankofamerica.com/about, and connect with us on Twitter @BofAML.

2015 Bank of America Business Standards Report
For more information, please visit: http://www.codefirstgirls.org.uk/bofaml.html  

ENDS         

Issued by Murray Consultants on behalf of Code First: Girls 
                        
For further information contact:

Murray Consultants                    +353 1 498 0300
Pauline McAlester                       +353 872258300               pmcalester@murrayconsultants.ie
Olwyn Flanagan                          +353 831737585                oflanagan@murrayconsultants.ie

   

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