Women’s struggle for equality has been there since the beginning of mankind. It holds true even in the world of programming. Despite their huge contributions to the computing world, names like Adele Goldberg, Grace Hopper, Ada Lovelace, and many others still do not get as much mention as they should. And even though we have come a long way, the stark reality has not changed much.
Still when asked about the great women programmers in current times, sarcasm takes over the names like Joanna Rutkowska, Anna Patterson, Caitlin Colgrove. And we think it’s about time we change that. The theme of this years International Women’s Day is “Make It Happen”. So, let’s come together and be a part of the change.
We have already seen some awe-inspiring women programmers on CodeChef in meteora, xiaodao, rosyish in our past contests and we are sure there are many more. In honor of the wonderful women all around the world, we will be dedicating special prizes to the women programmer in our March Challenge 2015, as a small gesture to celebrate their achievements.
For our March Challenge 2015, we will be honored to present the top women programmers around the world:
- 1st Prize – $200
- 2nd Prize – $150
- 3rd Prize – $100
And CodeChef goodies to rest of the names in the list of top ten women.
So, let us bring out all the amazing women programmer we know and celebrate their magic. And if you are a woman, let us give the men a run for their money in the March Challenge 2015, making them work twice as hard as they do. We know you can “Make It Happen”.
#MakeItHappen
Note:
- To participate in our March Long Challenge visit: http://www.codechef.com/MARCH15/
- The contest is open for all and those, who are interested and do not have a CodeChef handle, are requested to register here in order to participate: http://www.codechef.com/user/register
- If you are a women programmer you need to fill a little small form to be eligible for our special Women’s Day prizes for our March Challenge 2015: https://docs.google.com/a/codechef.com/forms/d/1Xe14xfZVh5KANTSIacuiTUmBHbiFUWvrj-oSfhCeCY8/viewform
Regards,
Rudreshwar
Team CodeChef
In what way can participant prove female gender?
If you are a women programmer you need to fill a little
form to be eligible for our special Women’s Day prizes for our March Challenge 2015 here: https://docs.google.com/a/codechef.com/forms/d/1Xe14xfZVh5KANTSIacuiTUmBHbiFUWvrj-oSfhCeCY8/viewform
I can’t open this form:( “Form is available only in the corporate domain of owner”
Hey taube, Can you try again? It is working now.
It’s really working, thank you:) In what way do you plan to cope with fraud? I think, some boy can register as girl.
Hey taube, there will be proper scrutiny of the winners before the prizes are being given.
What are the prizes for normal people ?
Hey Vishwa, You can read all about our prizes here: http://discuss.codechef.com/questions/51999/how-do-i-win-a-codechef-goodie
This is not a good way to support female coders. Making a “special prize” for women is like making the Special Olympics for handicapped athletes. However, the difference is that women are not handicapped in any way intellectually compared to men and possess the same logical reasoning ability as men (case in point: Maryam Mirzakhani, the most recent recipient of the Fields Medal in mathematics). This award is unlikely to help women except make us feel a little worse about ourselves because it’s a “special” award for people who are perceived as intellectually inferior in the sport of coding (I assure you, women are not). The only reason why so few women get into programming and technology is that we are systematically excluded from the tech field. How? Because male superiors with deep-seated prejudices against women refuse to promote us. Writing programs for software applications is not rocket science. I know because I am a woman who is studying computer science in graduate school. My female classmates and professors are working on solving P vs. NP (perhaps the most crucial unsolved problem in mathematics/computer science). If you can even grasp the in’s and out’s of this problem and understand it enough to look for solutions, you can most assurdedly win an ACM programming competition. Instead of giving out special prizes that subversively imply women are mentally handicapped (we are not, go to graduate school and you will see), let’s start consciously placing female software engineers in senior positions in technology companies and have men at these companies make a conscious effort to examine their own prejudices towards women.