STEM Education for Women and Girls: Global Volunteering Highlights

Did you know that February 11 is International Day of Women and Girls in Science, according to the United Nations?

Salesforce supports women and girls in STEM education through volunteering and mentoring programs. Recently, for Computer Science Education Week (December 4-8, 2017), Salesforce employees spent over 1,200 hours supporting dozens of local schools throughout the world. Keep reading for some highlights from the US, Australia, Japan and more.

In the Asia-Pacific region, teams volunteered over 115 hours, working with 140 students in 7 activities in our offices and at our local schools in Singapore, Australia, India and New Zealand. Staff led a range of STEM activities which included introducing an Hour of Code to introduce coding to young students, get girls excited about STEM careers, participating in activities like Sphero Challenge and Code Club and leading basic computer training.

In Tokyo, Japan, employees contributed to multiple skills-based volunteering opportunities.

In collaboration with our Japan education partners CANVAS and NPOAfterschool, employees participated in:

• Scratch Jr. programming workshops at Galaxcity an educational facility in Adachi-ku
• Programming workshops called the “Journey of Programming” at Nishiarai Elementary School
• A coding class at Tokyo Shure

Here’s a story from a student who visited a Salesforce office with our partner, ScriptEd, a grantee organization.

In San Francisco, a student named Yuquan shared with us:

“During our Salesforce field trip, I learnt a lot about a company that would usually be behind the scenes doing some amazing job to make other people’s jobs easier. The best part would be when they brought in a few of their employees and they talked about their journey and what they did with the company. I will remember the advice when they talked about their degrees, schooling, and their story of choosing what they wanted to do.”

Since Salesforce is headquartered in San Francisco, employees contributed over 800 hours in San Francisco and Oakland alone.

Volunteer opportunities for our employees included being guest speakers, sharing career insights on both technical and non-technical roles, leading STEM-related demonstrations with groups of students, and supporting the Hour of Code workshops to help students get started in coding.

The students and teachers really appreciated the mentorship that employees provided. Thanks to colleagues and partners for helping us reach the company-wide goal to donate 1 million hours of volunteering to STEM education in the next 5 years!

About International Day of Women and Girls in Science

As noted by the United Nations, science and gender equality are vital for the achievement of the UN Sustainable Development Goals. While the global community has made a lot of effort in inspiring and engaging women and girls in science, we can all do more.

In order to achieve full and equal access to and participation in science, gender equality, and the empowerment of women and girls, the United Nations General Assembly adopted resolution A/RES/70/212 declaring February 11 as the International Day of Women and Girls in Science.

Why Salesforce Supports STEM Education for Women and Girls

Salesforce and Salesforce.org have always had a strong commitment to education and equality. Since our founding in 1999, we’ve given $65 million and 175,000 volunteer hours to K-12 schools, with a focus on STEM and computer science education. With this announcement from September 2017, we’re increasing our efforts with an additional $50 million and one million volunteer hours over five years to expand K-12 computer science education in the U.S. to ensure our students are prepared for college and the digital economy.

Salesforce.org has also contributed grants to pioneers inspiring women and girls to learn more about STEM careers, including Girls Who Code, Technovation/Iridescent, Girl Scouts, and others.

We value having a diverse, inclusive workforce. For more about our commitment to equality, see this Trailhead Trail.

Share what you’re working on to support women and girls in science on Twitter, using @WomenScienceDay!