Campbell, CA (PRWEB) July 19, 2017
Earlier this year, iD Tech, the leader in summer STEM education and a Top Workplace in six out of the last seven years, as voted by the Bay Area News Group, committed to increase the number of female campers attending iD Tech programs to 25%. The company is pleased to announce that they have reached that goal—now pushing for 30% in 2018 and eventually 50%.
In 2014, only 12% of the iD Tech camper population was female. Just three years later, that has risen to 25%, over a 300% increase. “We still have a long way to go to get to gender parity, but we are making big gains,” says Joy Meserve, Chief Program Officer of iD Tech. “The initiatives we put in place to increase female campers, especially Alexa Café, our all-girls STEM camp named after our co-founder, have really paid off.”
In addition to achieving this goal, the company has also reached new levels in leadership diversity for its workforce.
iD Tech has a management team that is 57% female, which is truly unique in Silicon Valley. “We have 33 women and 25 men working in year-round management positions,” says Kate Stemplinger, Director of People Services at iD Tech. "One of the reasons I’ve been with iD Tech for over 10 years is that we’ve built an inclusive, dynamic, and supportive culture that stems from the vision of our founders, Alexa and Kathryn. It’s something that I’m really proud to be a part of because we aren’t just talking about gender parity, we are leading by example."
According to a recent study, Gender Diversity at Silicon Valley Public Companies 2016, the average percentage of women directors increased 4.1 percentage points to 14.1% in 2016. iD Tech has more than double that average coming in at 37.5%.
In addition to year-round staff, the company hires seasonal Directors and Assistant Directors to oversee and manage each of their 150 locations all over the world each summer. A full diversity study is underway and will be released once completed, but the initial results are promising: This year, 245 staff were hired for leadership positions at camp, with 140 (57%) of those leaders being female.
“We simply look to hire the best candidates for the job, regardless of gender,” says Joy Meserve. “Of course, I love to see that women are standing out statistically because that gives us a bigger opportunity to provide professional development for the next generation of female leaders in the workforce, specifically in the fields of science, technology, and engineering.”
About iD Tech
iD Tech is the leader in summer STEM education programs for students ages 6–18. Over 275,000 students have attended iD Tech since 1999. Camps are held at over 150 prestigious campuses in the United States, including Stanford, MIT, Harvard, and many others. In addition to iD Tech Camps for ages 7–17, iD Tech also offers all-girls tech camps, teen-only academies, and an online learning platform. Learn more at iDTech.com.