0:00:01.040,0:00:02.695
So a few years ago,

0:00:02.719,0:00:05.656
I did something really brave,

0:00:05.680,0:00:08.360
or some would say really stupid.

0:00:08.840,0:00:10.160
I ran for Congress.

0:00:11.040,0:00:14.776
For years, I had existed[br]safely behind the scenes in politics

0:00:14.800,0:00:17.856
as a fund-raiser, as an organizer,

0:00:17.880,0:00:21.080
but in my heart, I always wanted to run.

0:00:21.680,0:00:26.136
The sitting congresswoman[br]had been in my district since 1992.

0:00:26.160,0:00:28.056
She had never lost a race,

0:00:28.080,0:00:31.960
and no one had really even run against her[br]in a Democratic primary.

0:00:32.680,0:00:35.536
But in my mind, this was my way

0:00:35.560,0:00:37.056
to make a difference,

0:00:37.080,0:00:39.200
to disrupt the status quo.

0:00:39.960,0:00:43.320
The polls, however,[br]told a very different story.

0:00:43.920,0:00:47.136
My pollsters told me[br]that I was crazy to run,

0:00:47.160,0:00:50.080
that there was no way that I could win.

0:00:50.760,0:00:52.096
But I ran anyway,

0:00:52.120,0:00:57.296
and in 2012, I became an upstart[br]in a New York City congressional race.

0:00:57.320,0:01:00.400
I swore I was going to win.

0:01:01.000,0:01:03.616
I had the endorsement[br]from the New York Daily News,

0:01:03.640,0:01:06.976
the Wall Street Journal[br]snapped pictures of me on election day,

0:01:07.000,0:01:10.600
and CNBC called it one of the hottest[br]races in the country.

0:01:11.280,0:01:13.696
I raised money from everyone I knew,

0:01:13.720,0:01:15.616
including Indian aunties

0:01:15.640,0:01:18.360
that were just so happy[br]an Indian girl was running.

0:01:19.240,0:01:22.416
But on election day, the polls were right,

0:01:22.440,0:01:25.480
and I only got 19 percent of the vote,

0:01:25.920,0:01:29.656
and the same papers[br]that said I was a rising political star

0:01:29.680,0:01:34.096
now said I wasted 1.3 million dollars

0:01:34.120,0:01:39.136
on 6,321 votes.

0:01:39.160,0:01:40.440
Don't do the math.

0:01:41.440,0:01:43.480
It was humiliating.

0:01:44.320,0:01:46.976
Now, before you get the wrong idea,

0:01:47.000,0:01:49.440
this is not a talk[br]about the importance of failure.

0:01:50.040,0:01:51.680
Nor is it about leaning in.

0:01:52.400,0:01:55.616
I tell you the story[br]of how I ran for Congress

0:01:55.640,0:01:58.096
because I was 33 years old

0:01:58.120,0:02:02.856
and it was the first time[br]in my entire life

0:02:02.880,0:02:06.536
that I had done something[br]that was truly brave,

0:02:06.560,0:02:09.240
where I didn't worry about being perfect.

0:02:09.639,0:02:11.096
And I'm not alone:

0:02:11.120,0:02:12.856
so many women I talk to tell me

0:02:12.880,0:02:15.776
that they gravitate[br]towards careers and professions

0:02:15.800,0:02:17.896
that they know[br]they're going to be great in,

0:02:17.920,0:02:20.296
that they know they're[br]going to be perfect in,

0:02:20.320,0:02:22.136
and it's no wonder why.

0:02:22.160,0:02:25.216
Most girls are taught[br]to avoid risk and failure.

0:02:25.240,0:02:27.016
We're taught to smile pretty,

0:02:27.040,0:02:29.560
play it safe, get all A's.

0:02:30.320,0:02:32.016
Boys, on the other hand,

0:02:32.040,0:02:34.816
are taught to play rough, swing high,

0:02:34.840,0:02:39.600
crawl to the top of the monkey bars[br]and then just jump off headfirst.

0:02:40.200,0:02:41.776
And by the time they're adults,

0:02:41.800,0:02:46.576
whether they're negotiating a raise[br]or even asking someone out on a date,

0:02:46.600,0:02:50.496
they're habituated[br]to take risk after risk.

0:02:50.520,0:02:51.760
They're rewarded for it.

0:02:52.320,0:02:54.856
It's often said in Silicon Valley,

0:02:54.880,0:02:59.160
no one even takes you seriously[br]unless you've had two failed start-ups.

0:02:59.880,0:03:01.416
In other words,

0:03:01.440,0:03:04.536
we're raising our girls to be perfect,

0:03:04.560,0:03:07.880
and we're raising our boys to be brave.

0:03:09.080,0:03:12.760
Some people worry[br]about our federal deficit,

0:03:13.800,0:03:17.600
but I, I worry about our bravery deficit.

0:03:18.240,0:03:21.696
Our economy, our society,[br]we're just losing out

0:03:21.720,0:03:24.240
because we're not raising[br]our girls to be brave.

0:03:24.920,0:03:28.296
The bravery deficit is why[br]women are underrepresented in SEM,

0:03:28.320,0:03:30.256
in C-suites, in boardrooms, in Congress,

0:03:30.280,0:03:32.840
and pretty much everywhere you look.

0:03:34.000,0:03:37.176
In the 1980s, psychologist Carol Dweck

0:03:37.200,0:03:39.856
looked at how bright fifth graders[br]handled an assignment

0:03:39.880,0:03:41.480
that was too difficult for them.

0:03:42.000,0:03:46.176
She found that bright girls[br]were quick to give up.

0:03:46.200,0:03:49.920
The higher the IQ,[br]the more likely they were to give up.

0:03:50.520,0:03:52.256
Bright boys, on the other hand,

0:03:52.280,0:03:54.976
found the difficult material[br]to be a challenge.

0:03:55.000,0:03:56.736
They found it energizing.

0:03:56.760,0:03:59.960
They were more likely[br]to redouble their efforts.

0:04:00.680,0:04:01.920
What's going on?

0:04:02.520,0:04:04.016
Well, at the fifth grade level,

0:04:04.040,0:04:07.696
girls routinely outperform boys[br]in every subject,

0:04:07.720,0:04:09.856
including math and science,

0:04:09.880,0:04:12.720
so it's not a question of ability.

0:04:13.560,0:04:17.680
The difference is in how boys[br]and girls approach a challenge.

0:04:18.200,0:04:20.279
And it doesn't just end in fifth grade.

0:04:20.800,0:04:23.976
An HP report found[br]that men will apply for a job

0:04:24.000,0:04:27.640
if they meet only 60 percent[br]of the qualifications,

0:04:28.000,0:04:30.736
but women, women will apply

0:04:30.760,0:04:35.336
only if they meet 100 percent[br]of the qualifications.

0:04:35.360,0:04:36.640
100 percent.

0:04:37.720,0:04:41.056
This study is usually invoked[br]as evidence that, well,

0:04:41.080,0:04:42.800
women need a little more confidence.

0:04:43.360,0:04:44.856
But I think it's evidence

0:04:44.880,0:04:48.016
that women have been socialized[br]to aspire to perfection,

0:04:48.040,0:04:49.576
and they're overly cautious.

0:04:49.600,0:04:52.416
(Applause)

0:04:52.440,0:04:54.496
And even when we're ambitious,

0:04:54.520,0:04:57.296
even when we're leaning in,

0:04:57.320,0:04:59.536
that socialization of perfection

0:04:59.560,0:05:02.640
has caused us to take[br]less risks in our careers.

0:05:03.320,0:05:07.896
And so those 600,000 jobs[br]that are open right now

0:05:07.920,0:05:09.160
in computing and tech,

0:05:09.800,0:05:11.696
women are being left behind,

0:05:11.720,0:05:14.376
and it means our economy[br]is being left behind

0:05:14.400,0:05:18.576
on all the innovation and problems[br]women would solve,

0:05:18.600,0:05:21.336
if they were socialized to be brave

0:05:21.360,0:05:24.440
instead of socialized to be perfect.

0:05:24.960,0:05:28.896
(Applause)

0:05:28.920,0:05:33.256
So in 2012, I started a company[br]to teach girls to code,

0:05:33.280,0:05:36.336
and what I found[br]is that by teaching them to code

0:05:36.360,0:05:38.520
I had socialized them to be brave.

0:05:39.240,0:05:43.456
Coding, it's an endless process[br]of trial and error,

0:05:43.480,0:05:46.656
of trying to get the right command[br]in the right place,

0:05:46.680,0:05:49.096
with sometimes just a semicolon

0:05:49.120,0:05:52.440
making the difference[br]between success and failure.

0:05:52.840,0:05:55.336
Code breaks and then it falls apart,

0:05:55.360,0:05:57.776
and it often takes many, many tries

0:05:57.800,0:06:00.096
until that magical moment

0:06:00.120,0:06:03.200
when what you're trying[br]to build comes to life.

0:06:03.760,0:06:06.240
It requires perseverance.

0:06:06.600,0:06:09.360
It requires imperfection.

0:06:10.160,0:06:12.536
We immediately see in our program

0:06:12.560,0:06:14.896
our girls' fear of not getting it right,

0:06:14.920,0:06:16.160
of not being perfect.

0:06:16.840,0:06:20.016
Every Girls Who Code teacher[br]tells me the same story.

0:06:20.040,0:06:23.016
During the first week,[br]when the girls are learning how to code,

0:06:23.040,0:06:26.016
a student will call her over[br]and she'll say,

0:06:26.040,0:06:28.056
"I don't know what code to write."

0:06:28.080,0:06:30.016
The teacher will look at her screen,

0:06:30.040,0:06:31.920
and she'll see a blank text editor.

0:06:32.640,0:06:35.456
If she didn't know any better,[br]she'd think that her student

0:06:35.480,0:06:38.560
spent the past 20 minutes[br]just staring at the screen.

0:06:39.400,0:06:42.576
But if she presses undo a few times,

0:06:42.600,0:06:46.320
she'll see that her student[br]wrote code and then deleted it.

0:06:46.840,0:06:50.096
She tried, she came close,

0:06:50.120,0:06:52.200
but she didn't get it exactly right.

0:06:53.040,0:06:55.656
Instead of showing[br]the progress that she made,

0:06:55.680,0:06:57.640
she'd rather show nothing at all.

0:06:58.160,0:07:01.000
Perfection or bust.

0:07:02.440,0:07:07.200
It turns out that our girls[br]are really good at coding,

0:07:07.840,0:07:10.031
but it's not enough[br]just to teach them to code.

0:07:10.720,0:07:13.911
My friend Lev Brie, who is a professor[br]at the University of Columbia

0:07:13.935,0:07:15.696
and teaches intro to Java

0:07:15.720,0:07:19.400
tells me about his office hours[br]with computer science students.

0:07:20.120,0:07:22.376
When the guys are struggling[br]with an assignment,

0:07:22.400,0:07:23.976
they'll come in and they'll say,

0:07:24.000,0:07:26.360
"Professor, there's something[br]wrong with my code."

0:07:26.880,0:07:28.376
The girls will come in and say,

0:07:28.400,0:07:32.440
"Professor, there's something[br]wrong with me."

0:07:33.520,0:07:36.816
We have to begin to undo[br]the socialization of perfection,

0:07:36.840,0:07:39.456
but we've got to combine it[br]with building a sisterhood

0:07:39.480,0:07:42.320
that lets girls know[br]that they are not alone.

0:07:43.000,0:07:47.040
Because trying harder[br]is not going to fix a broken system.

0:07:47.680,0:07:49.936
I can't tell you how many women tell me,

0:07:49.960,0:07:51.736
"I'm afraid to raise my hand,

0:07:51.760,0:07:53.896
I'm afraid to ask a question,

0:07:53.920,0:07:56.296
because I don't want to be the only one

0:07:56.320,0:07:57.760
who doesn't understand,

0:07:58.360,0:08:01.040
the only one who is struggling.

0:08:01.840,0:08:04.736
When we teach girls to be brave

0:08:04.760,0:08:08.056
and we have a supportive network[br]cheering them on,

0:08:08.080,0:08:11.096
they will build incredible things,

0:08:11.120,0:08:13.840
and I see this every day.

0:08:14.520,0:08:17.136
Take, for instance,[br]two of our high school students

0:08:17.160,0:08:19.536
who built a game called Tampon Run --

0:08:19.560,0:08:22.016
yes, Tampon Run --

0:08:22.040,0:08:24.456
to fight against the menstruation taboo

0:08:24.480,0:08:26.680
and sexism in gaming.

0:08:27.840,0:08:29.416
Or the Syrian refugee

0:08:29.440,0:08:32.960
who dared show her love[br]for her new country

0:08:33.600,0:08:37.799
by building an app[br]to help Americans get to the polls.

0:08:38.760,0:08:43.015
Or a 16-year-old girl[br]who built an algorithm

0:08:43.039,0:08:48.096
to help detect whether a cancer[br]is benign or malignant

0:08:48.120,0:08:51.496
in the off chance[br]that she can save her daddy's life

0:08:51.520,0:08:54.080
because he has cancer.

0:08:55.000,0:08:59.400
These are just[br]three examples of thousands,

0:09:00.120,0:09:04.216
thousands of girls who have been[br]socialized to be imperfect,

0:09:04.240,0:09:07.193
who have learned to keep trying,[br]who have learned perseverance.

0:09:07.217,0:09:09.216
And whether they become coders

0:09:09.240,0:09:11.896
or the next Hillary Clinton or Beyonce,

0:09:11.920,0:09:15.240
they will not defer their dreams.

0:09:15.960,0:09:20.440
And those dreams have never been[br]more important for our country.

0:09:21.320,0:09:24.456
For the American economy,[br]for any economy to grow,

0:09:24.480,0:09:26.616
to truly innovate,

0:09:26.640,0:09:29.840
we cannot leave behind[br]half our population.

0:09:30.640,0:09:34.336
We have to socialize our girls[br]to be comfortable with imperfection,

0:09:34.360,0:09:37.280
and we've got to do it now.

0:09:38.400,0:09:42.616
We cannot wait for them[br]to learn how to be brave like I did

0:09:42.640,0:09:44.720
when I was 33 years old.

0:09:45.240,0:09:47.576
We have to teach them[br]to be brave in schools

0:09:47.600,0:09:49.336
and early in their careers,

0:09:49.360,0:09:52.496
when it has the most potential[br]to impact their lives

0:09:52.520,0:09:54.536
and the lives of others,

0:09:54.560,0:09:59.336
and we have to show them[br]that they will be loved and accepted

0:09:59.360,0:10:02.416
not for being perfect

0:10:02.440,0:10:05.080
but for being courageous.

0:10:05.840,0:10:09.656
And so I need each of you[br]to tell every young woman you know --

0:10:09.680,0:10:13.096
your sister, your niece,[br]your employee, your colleague --

0:10:13.120,0:10:15.680
to be comfortable with imperfection,

0:10:16.360,0:10:18.856
because when we teach[br]girls to be imperfect,

0:10:18.880,0:10:21.456
and we help them leverage it,

0:10:21.480,0:10:25.376
we will build a movement[br]of young women who are brave

0:10:25.400,0:10:28.776
and who will build[br]a better world for themselves

0:10:28.800,0:10:32.440
and for each and every one of us.

0:10:33.160,0:10:34.376
Thank you.

0:10:34.400,0:10:38.320
(Applause)

0:10:39.080,0:10:40.280
Thank you.

0:10:45.320,0:10:46.976
Chris Anderson: Reshma, thank you.

0:10:47.000,0:10:49.680
It's such a powerful vision you have.[br]You have a vision.

0:10:51.680,0:10:53.416
Tell me how it's going.

0:10:53.440,0:10:55.696
How many girls[br]are involved now in your program?

0:10:55.720,0:10:59.376
Reshma Saujani: Yeah.[br]So in 2012, we taught 20 girls.

0:10:59.400,0:11:02.936
This year we'll teach 40,000[br]in all 50 states.

0:11:02.960,0:11:04.216
(Applause)

0:11:04.240,0:11:07.296
And that number is really powerful,

0:11:07.320,0:11:12.616
because last year we only graduated[br]7,500 women in computer science.

0:11:12.640,0:11:15.216
Like, the problem is so bad

0:11:15.240,0:11:17.720
that we can make[br]that type of change quickly.

0:11:18.600,0:11:21.816
CA: And you're working with some[br]of the companies in this room even,

0:11:21.840,0:11:24.016
who are welcoming[br]graduates from your program?

0:11:24.040,0:11:26.016
RS: Yeah, we have about 80 partners,

0:11:26.040,0:11:28.096
from Twitter to Facebook

0:11:28.120,0:11:32.616
to Adobe to IBM to Microsoft[br]to Pixar to Disney,

0:11:32.640,0:11:34.536
I mean, every single company out there.

0:11:34.560,0:11:36.976
And if you're not signed up,[br]I'm going to find you,

0:11:37.000,0:11:38.976
because we need every single tech company

0:11:39.000,0:11:41.776
to embed a Girls Who Code[br]classroom in their office.

0:11:41.800,0:11:44.776
CA: And you have some stories[br]back from some of those companies

0:11:44.800,0:11:46.705
that when you mix in more gender balance

0:11:46.729,0:11:50.176
in the engineering teams,[br]good things happen.

0:11:50.200,0:11:51.496
RS: Great things happen.

0:11:51.520,0:11:54.936
I mean, I think that it's crazy to me[br]to think about the fact

0:11:54.960,0:11:58.816
that right now 85 percent of all[br]consumer purchases are made by women.

0:11:58.840,0:12:01.896
Women use social media at a rate[br]of 600 percent more than men.

0:12:01.920,0:12:03.336
We own the Internet,

0:12:03.360,0:12:05.816
and we should be building[br]the companies of tomorrow,

0:12:05.840,0:12:08.016
and I think when companies[br]have diverse teams,

0:12:08.040,0:12:11.456
and they have incredible women[br]that are part of their engineering teams,

0:12:11.480,0:12:13.896
they build awesome things,[br]and we see it every day.

0:12:13.920,0:12:17.656
CA: Reshma, you saw the reaction there.[br]You're doing incredibly important work.

0:12:17.680,0:12:20.976
This whole community is cheering you on.[br]More power to you. Thank you.

0:12:21.000,0:12:22.216
RS: Thank you.

0:12:22.240,0:12:26.080
(Applause)