Let your girls play computer games – Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg
Facebook's chief operating officer Sheryl Sandberg

Let your girls play computer games – Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg

9 Apr 2013

Let your kids play computer games to foster their interest in a potential computer science career, Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg has said, while also speaking about the lack of role models in the subject for girls.

“Computer games are the gateway to computer science,” Sandberg said during a recent talk in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

“A lot of kids code because they play games. Give your daughters computer games. Ask them to play them.”

Giving kids this early start in computer science will pay off for the economy in the long run, Sandberg said.

“Those (computer science) jobs pay better and those jobs are very much the future,” she said.

Those jobs, however, are at the moment being filled more by men than women. Without role models for girls, Sandberg said, “the reason there aren’t enough women computer scientists is because there aren’t enough women computer scientists.”

Sandberg, a mother of two children herself, added that she understands some kids just might not be interested in the subject, citing how she herself was more interested in wanting a date than wanting to be most likely to succeed.

Women Invent Tomorrow is Silicon Republic’s year-long campaign to champion the role of women in science, technology, engineering and maths

Tina Costanza
By Tina Costanza

Tina Costanza was a journalist and sub-editor at Silicon Republic. She came to Ireland from Canada, where she had held senior editorial positions at daily newspapers in Ottawa and Toronto. When she wasn’t saving dangling participles, she was training for 10K races or satisfying a craving for scones.

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