No boys allowed: Girls Who Code takes on gender gap

Launched in 2012, Girls Who Code's summer program has grown from 20 girls in one classroom to 380 girls in classrooms at 16 companies across the country.

Founder Reshma Saujani is addressing a pressing challenge for the tech industry: There are not enough computer science graduates to fill openings. Nearly three quarters of girls in middle school express interest in engineering, science and math. Yet, by the time they are in college, very few major in computer science.

Fifty-seven percent of bachelor's degrees are earned by women but just 18% of computer science degrees go to women. Women make up half of the US workforce but hold just 25% of the jobs in technical and computing fields.

The figures are even starker for women of color. Black women make up just 3% of the computing work force and Hispanic women just 2%.

So far the results from Girls Who Code show that early intervention is the key, Saujani says. Of the graduates from the Girls Who Code summer program in 2013, 95% said they were definitely considering or were more likely to consider studying computer science in college and 99% said they were considering a career in technology.