Last week, ahead of International Women’s Day, Faiths Forum for London in partnership with Twitter hosted an interfaith twitter coding session for four girls' schools (Barnet Hill Academy, Hasmonean School, Ursuline School and Al Zahra School) from the Muslim, Catholic and Jewish faiths. Running since 2015, the project has brought together over 250 pupils.
According to Women in Stem Workforce, just 23% of the people working in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) roles across the UK are female. 28 girls attended to learn basic coding languages delivered by Twitter’s very own female engineers.
The session empowered young girls from minority faith communities to pursue careers in the tech marketplace. It also allowed the girls to ask the female engineers about their journeys in STEM and any advice to overcome challenges.
For many of the girls, it was their first time integrating with girls from other faiths, so, it was a great opportunity to explore and learn about other faiths. The partnership between business and faith sectors is a refreshing model of true collaboration. While the students learn about the tech, they are also learning about each other’s shared values.
Aya Bdaiwi of Faiths Forum for London said, “It was wonderful to see the students asking important questions about each other’s communities and gaining an understanding of different faiths. Those who take part find there are more similarities between them than differences”.
Student from Barnet Hill Academy told Asian Voice, “The twitter coding session was fantastic because I learnt so much and got to work and meet other girls from different religions. I think it is important to encourage young girls like me who already have a passion for science to be more involved in events like this. It has made me more exited for my future, knowing I could be leading groups of girls like this one day”.
