The can-do girl goes to coding camp: a discourse analysis of news reports on coding initiatives designed for girls

Abstract

The past five or so years have been marked by a proliferation of educational initiatives, programmes, and toys designed to introduce children to coding and to develop their skills and interest in computer science. This article takes a critical approach to this movement, focusing specifically on ways dominant discourse surrounding the coding movement constructs children, girls, and coding and puts pressure on parents to assist their children in becoming valuable to neoliberal economies. The first part of the article reviews research concerning children and coding, the STEM skills gap, and gender divides in computer science. This part concludes with a discussion of neoliberal ideologies which frame these areas of debate. The second part analyzes 71 news articles published in a six-month period in 2018 that report on coding initiatives and related toys, including Robotics Engineer Barbie™. This part of the article reveals ways these coding initiatives are framed as being essential to the future labour market, as solutions to gender parities in Computer Science fields, and as a way to create confident girls for the future workforce. The article concludes with connections to neoliberal ideologies which frame the role of parenting in the age of digital technologies.