Mohr Davidow Ventures Focuses on Closing the Gender Gap in Technology With a Private Screening of CodeGirl and Panel Discussion

MENLO PARK, CA--(Marketwired - Nov 11, 2015) - Mohr Davidow Ventures, one of Silicon Valley's leading venture firms specializing in early-stage technology-based startups, today announced that it will be hosting a private screening of CodeGirl, the latest documentary from Director Lesley Chilcott (executive producer of An Inconvenient Truth and Waiting for Superman). After the film -- which follows ten teams of girls as they compete in Technovation, an entrepreneurship and coding competition -- Katherine Barr, general partner at Mohr Davidow Ventures, will host a panel discussion with some of Silicon Valley's most accomplished women about how to close the gender gap that leaves women under-represented in the world of technology and science. 

Although 74 percent of high school girls show an interest in science, technology, engineering or math, only 4 percent choose to major in these STEM subjects, and 50 percent of women in STEM careers leave the workforce. Computer programming, especially, is dominated by men, but the world's first programmers were women. Even as late as the 1960s computer programming was considered a good career choice for young women¹, but now women comprise just 18 percent of computer science undergraduate majors, down from 37 percent in 1985.

Barr, who appears in the movie, is passionate about eliminating this gender gap. "I give huge props to Tara Chklovski, Iridescent CEO, Technovation program founder, Anuranjita Tewary, and their team for growing the program to 5,000 participants worldwide this year," says Barr. "I have been involved with Technovation as a judge for the past several years, and the documentary put into context what a big deal the Technovation Challenge is -- it is having a global impact and changing girls' lives by learning how to become technology entrepreneurs."

"The world needs the contributions of these talented women. The film powerfully portrays how these girls are doing more than just coding," comments Sonal Puri, CEO, Webscale (formerly Lagrange Systems) and a panelist. "They're also managing their projects and pitching them to executives. These role model young women show that they possess a broader skillset -- one that will help them succeed as entrepreneurs." CodeGirl tracks the girls as they find mentors, learn to code, and develop their first apps and business plans. In 2015, 5,000 girls from 60 nations contended for the grand prize at Technovation.