Four groups bringing together women in tech

As a woman looking to take the leap into the tech world, there are few places you can turn to for help and support. The industry's much-publicised gender gap makes things difficult. The usual places you would ask for guidance, such as universities and established businesses, are male dominated and can feel as though they have other priorities.

I believe that nothing beats hands-on education and training built by women and for women, which is why my co-founder Denise Philipp and I created Geekettes. Geekettes offers mentorship programs, workshops, and events that aim to highlight and inspire women in technology. We launched in London on 13 March, and this new hub will be led by Marily Nika and Claire Donoghue, two Imperial College London PhD graduates with a passion in changing the ratio.

In the spirit of promoting change, here are three other organisations that you should most definitely turn to if you are a woman looking to take your own leap into the world of tech.

Women 2.0

Women 2.0 focuses on sharing the success stories of other women in high-growth and high-tech businesses. The organisation wants to encourage women to pursue their entrepreneurial dreams in a big way. "By connecting women at the earliest, riskiest part of their entrepreneurial career with like-minded, successful entrepreneurs, we are increasing their chance of success and showing others that they too can take the first step," says co-founder Angie Chang. Women 2.0 also aims to put more women into positions of authority, such as board members, executives, technical leaders and investors.

Stemettes

Stemettes aims to inspire the next generation of females into the science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) fields by showcasing the work of established females via panel events, hackathons, exhibitions, and mentoring schemes. "I needed to be able to show as many girls as possible that STEM is a viable, exciting and fruitful option for them," says founder Anne-Marie Imafidon. The organisation is unique in its inclusion of age ranges – Ann encourages women of all skill levels to get involved. "Within our first year we had 700 girls join, aged five all the way up to 21."

Geek Girl Meetup

Geek Girl Meetup is targeted at females with an interest in tech, design and startups. Its focal point is to create a network that enables knowledge sharing—something that the organisation sees as a key factor in the future success of females in the tech world. "Geek Girl Meetup embraces diversity in the tech world by elevating female role models for future generations," says founder Heidi Harman. She manages to encapsulate the common vision that all of these organisations – Geekettes, Women 2.0 and Stemettes included – are trying to achieve. "We need women to participate in the creation of the next Spotify."

We still have a long way to go and we shouldn't quit until we've reached our full potential. There are big challenges ahead of us, and by working together and supporting one another we can create real change. Know of a great organisation supporting women in tech that we haven't mentioned? Tell us in the comments.

Jess Erickson is the founder of Geekettes, an organisation that aims to mentor, educate and inspire women to pursue a career in technology.