Like in many areas of life, people associated with your Dojo may be resistant to change or reluctant to admit there is a problem. Some may not be aware that there is an issue with gender representation in the Dojo. Mentors who have studied programming at college, and/or work in the technology sector, may be less responsive, because they have become accustomed to gender disparity.

Recording numbers of Ninjas and noting any increase or decrease in attendance and churn rate of girls is useful for highlighting issues, determining which approach is most suitable for your Dojo, and explaining why a specific intervention is necessary.

If gender disparity is an issue at a Dojo, it is important that Champions, Mentors, volunteers, and parents can discuss it in an open non-confrontational way. Openly evaluating different approaches to the issue allows everyone to give input and state their opinion. This guide can be used to start the discussion.

CoderDojo Scotland experienced pushback when trialling strategies to improve gender balance in their Dojo. They point out that, although some of the suggested measures may be seen as ‘positive discrimination’, and therefore potentially as ‘unfair’ or ‘artificial’, their aim is to create a more diverse environment. Achieving this will make it easier for young people of all genders, backgrounds, and cultures to get involved in CoderDojo. Working towards this goal can mean employing strategies in the short term which are to some extent ‘artificial’, in order to reap long-term benefits.

The purpose of the approaches we have collected here is not to segregate genders, or to simplify the content girls learn. Gisela from CoderDojo Ham notes that there are girls at her girls table who are learning complex programming concepts and Python at a first-year bachelor degree level. These tried and tested best practices aim to combat significant disparity, to create a welcoming space for girls, and to increase the proximity of female role models to Ninjas.