To coincide with International Women’s Day, Apple has partnered with the nonprofit “Girls Who Code.” The partnership aims to expand learning opportunities for young women.
To do this, Apple is providing its Swift-focused “Everyone Can Code” curriculum to club leaders across the U.S. to help expand the number of coding clubs. This will ultimately benefit up to 90,000 young women.
“Women have earned the opportunity to have our ideas shape the future,” said Lisa Jackson, Apple’s VP of Environment, Policy and Social Initiatives. “We’re excited to support Girls Who Code as they empower girls to be the developers and tech innovators of tomorrow.”
Apple is also planning to spend March highlighting the work of female developers, musicians, artists, entrepreneurs and others within the Apple ecosystem. This will include multiple “Today at Apple” events at select Apple stores around the world. In all, more than 60 “Made by Women” events will be held. This will take place in Singapore, Kyoto, Hong Kong, London, Milan, Paris, Dubai, San Francisco, Chicago, New York and Los Angeles.
Other Apple initiatives designed to mark the occasion will include special Apple Music playlists, a 24-hour Beats 1 marathon, and an exclusive Apple Watch Activity award.
Teaching the world to code
This isn’t the first time that Apple has partnered with a nonprofit group for its coding education efforts. Earlier this month, it teamed up with the Oakland-based nonprofit Dream Corps to help men and women from “underrepresented backgrounds find success in the tech sector.”
Under CEO Tim Cook, Apple has worked hard to promote racial and gender diversity in its workforce. Speaking at the end of last year, Cook said the tech industry has “missed” doing enough in this area.
App Store promotions
During the entire month of March, every single App of the Day app will be one founded and developed by women. Bumble, TheSkimm and Stitch Fix are a couple of the apps that have been highlighted. Apple is going behind the scenes on the App Store Today tab with women like Lisy Kane, a game producer and co-founder of the startup Girl Geek Academy.
Apple Music is also running promotions for some of the most visionary women in music. You’ll see a bunch of handcrafted playlists, plus Beats 1 will host a 24-hour takeover with shows programmed to highlight inspiring women.
Activity badge
Apple Watch users across the world can also earn an exclusive Activity Award and stickers for Messages. All you have to do is complete a walk, run or wheelchair workout of a mile or more on March 8.
