Programming girlhood: digital labor and the twenty-first century girl coder in the United States

ABSTRACT There has been a marked rise in U.S. clubs and television programs promoting coding for young girls. These clubs and television shows position girls as either benefiting economically through the figure of the “can-do girl” or potentially failing as an “at-risk girl.” This article looks at two iterations of the girl coder – in Nickelodeon’s 2015 sitcom Game Shakers and in the rhetoric of Black Girl CODE and Girls Who Code – placing them within broader understandings of girlhood, economics, race, and labor. This analysis reveals the ways in which girl programmers become attached to racialized economic imaginings in these two instances either as idealized white child workers in the case of Game Shakers or future Black computer scientists within coding clubs. This positioning intimately ties girl programmers to economics, labor, and neoliberal ideals; however, this paper proposes that we need to imagine other possible goals for the girl programmer, particularly for Black and Brown girls. IMPACT SUMMARY a. Prior State of Knowledge: Since 2010 there has been a push to get girls into computer coding with particular attention paid to the pipeline problem. This rhetoric has been both touted and questioned. b. Novel Contributions: This article adds a critical look at how Black and Brown girls are positioned within computer programming initiatives and discourses using two primary case studies. It then offers a non-future oriented way of considering computer coding for girls. c. Practical Implications: This project suggests that researchers must continue to pay attention to the nuances of raced neoliberal capitalism in studies on girl’s media even as initiatives are widely considered positive.