OUR IMPACT
From the initial 21 scholarships Karlie Kloss subsidized in 2015, KWK has been squarely focused on our mission to close the gender gap in technology.
KWK now supports a global community of over 13,000 young women and gender-expansive technologists from age 13 - 26 years old in over 100 countries.
13,000
Over the last 10 years, KWK has served thousands of young people and onboarded them into our community.
75%
The overwhelming majority of KWK community members are are over 18 years old.
70%
KWK members major or minor in computer science or engineering compared to women nationally at 3.9%
60%
KWK members go on to have careers in tech at ~20x the rate compared to women nationally at 3-5%.
2,000 - 2,500
KWK serves thousands of young people each year, both new members and returning members.
25%
Each year, KWK serves returning members demonstrating the retention value of our continuous programming.
100
KWK delivers over 200,000 hours of programming per year, an average of ~100 hours per participant.
150
KWK trains Instructor Assistants each year to serve in paid positions as near peer technical leaders and culture carriers in our programs.
KWK'S WORK: BY THE NUMBERS
OUR INSIGHT:
TECH HAS A RETENTION PROBLEM
At KWK, we know that our programs must reach a minimum viable number of participants to be cost-effective and drive awareness.
But, KWK's north star for impact is focused on long-term retention outcomes not exclusively on reach.
The past 30+ years of the persistent gender gap in tech has taught us that reach alone is not an effective approach to solve this problem. It is impossible to close the gender gap in tech without being oriented to the goal of retaining talent on their journey over time. You cannot close a gap when those who start the journey don't reach a meaningful milestone that will change the structural composition of the industry.
A technical degree is the beginning of a lifelong learning journey. Getting hired is the beginning of a multi-year journey to make a meaningful contribution in the workplace. These milestones are often seen as the end goal, when in fact they are just the beginning.
This is why at KWK we think about what we do as technical talent retention, not as coding education.
Education is the entry point, but the ultimate measure of our success is keeping our community members committed to a lifetime of technical literacy and curiosity that fuels them to become leaders in the workplace. Retention and repeat engagement is the driving force of the KWK program model.
Over multiple years, our members return to KWK as their home base even while they participate in other programs and do formal schooling to build & deepen their technical proficiency. Retention of technical talent is how we will change the gender representation of the tech industry.
Our longitudinal program investment, designed as an intentional continuum of care (from ages 13 to 26), is central to our ethos.
TECH'S POROUS PATHWAY: BY THE NUMBERS
[1] Boys are 2x as likely to take foundational CS as girls in the same high school
[2] Women receive approximately 22% of all computing degrees
[3] Women are ~22% of tech roles, far less than their ~47% in the total workforce
[4] In tech, for every 100 men promoted to their 1st manager role, 52 women are promoted
[5] 50% of women leave tech roles by age 35
OUR DIAGNOSIS: A DUAL CULTURE PROBLEM
The gender gap is not because girls and women lack access, ability, or ambition compared to male peers.
For example, while access is often the first go-to solution, even with equal access, boys in high school are twice as likely to take foundational computer science classes than their female peers. Access is necessary, but insufficient.
At KWK, we believe the gap has persisted for decades because of systemic cultural failures — both structural and narrative.
The true root cause is a dual culture problem:
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Popular Culture is made up of the implicit and explicit attitudes, beliefs, values, and customs that shapes our personal worldview. Pop culture shapes our self-talk, our hopes and aspirations, and our behavior and life choices.
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Corporate Culture is a result of the policies, processes, and procedures that shape experiences in the workplace. Corporate culture determines who is hired, fired, recognized, invested in, and rewarded. More importantly, corporate culture drives business outcomes. The age old axiom that "culture eats strategy for breakfast' is no accident.
When these two forms of culture fail to be inclusive, the gender gap remains resistant to correction.
Popular culture is a powerful force in perpetuating the gender gap. Shockingly, limiting stories about who “belongs” in technology continue to shape outcomes and are a hurdle to progress.
Then, once women enter the workforce, corporate culture shape outcomes. Corporate culture determines who is hired, fired, recognized, invested in, and rewarded.
KWK exists to disrupt the cultural failures at the root of the gender gap.
The success stories of KWK's community members combat the failure of imagination that leads our society to lionize the same voices again and again when it comes to technology. Our work with partners who are building high-performance, inclusive corporate cultures clears the path for others to follow their playbooks.
