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
