March is Women’s History Month, and women have come a long way since the days of fighting for the vote. But women around the nation and around the globe are still fighting for equality in many realms, including in education, technology, equal pay, campus sexual assault, and beyond. All month long, msnbc.com is highlighting women leaders who are fighting for the women’s rights issues of 2015.
Shannon Turner loves attending technology events. But she doesn’t love showing up to find that she’s the only woman in the room. “Not only did I feel like I didn’t belong, but I often felt that others were talking down to me and not taking me seriously,” the homepage of Hear Me Code, reads.
Turner started Hear Me Code, a series of free coding seminars for women, after finding that the unwelcoming environment at tech events is part of the reason many women stop attending in the first place.
“When I talked to the other women at these events, I realized that it wasn’t just me. We all had this shared experience: feeling isolated, intimidated, unwelcome. It’s no wonder that most women didn’t come back for a second event,” Turner says.
“Hear Me Code is my attempt to address the gender disparity in tech, and in so doing, empower others to create the change they wish to see,” she says.








