Challenging Culture, Celebrating Community

Mission Statement:

Computer Science culture has systematically erased the participation and accomplishments of LGBTQIA+ people, women, gender non-conforming, first-generation immigrants, people of color, and disabled people. The community continues to perpetuate a culture of exclusivity and promotes individual success by exploiting the generosity of others.

WiCS is challenging this culture by providing networking and support to communities historically underrepresented in CS, and celebrating diversity.

We envision a future where all different kinds of people are influencing the technologies and companies that are moving us into the future.

We invite you to join us on our journey to a place where We Belong!

What’s in a name?

The short answer is: an awful lot.

If you have worked with us in the past, you may have noticed that our name has changed from ‘Women in Computer Science’ to ‘We in Computer Science’ and we’d like to take a moment to address why we’re doing this and our vision for this group going forward.

At WiCS, we believe that Computer Science is an awesome field where we can create, solve puzzles, and make a decent living in some of the biggest companies in the world. Unfortunately, many people feel left out because of their gender and that’s not right! We envision a future where all different kinds of people are influencing the technologies and companies that are moving us into the future. As we continue on our path to making our industry more diverse, we realize that people often have intersecting identities and concerns apart from their gender. We also know that gender is not the only identity that encounters barriers in our field.

While our group has always striven to encompass varying identities, we also realize that our old name focused solely on the binary gender identity of ‘woman.’ Moving forward, we are explicitly outlining our commitment to fighting against discrimination and bias against people based on their gender identity, sexual identity, race and/or disability status. We envision a future where computer science is one of the most diverse industries. Where everybody feels like we belong!