Hackergal wants more females in tech, not within the tech

Hackergal’s new campaign points out that while women’s voices are prevalent in technological devices, not enough women are in positions of power and influence within the tech industry.

Hackergal is a non-profit that helps young girls and gender-diverse learners develop a passion for, and pursue opportunities in, STEM fields. The campaign, by Fuse Create, includes posters that ask why the most famous female voices in tech are found in devices such as Siri and Alexa.

Rebecca Hazell, Hackergal’s interim executive director, says the non-profit’s work is focused on addressing the gender gap in tech, which has seen the percentage of women working in the field hover between 23% and 25% since the 1980s, which she finds to be a startlingly persistently low rate.

“With the campaign, the reaction that we have had is that it’s kind of a challenge,” Hazell tells strategy. “It’s not confrontational, but it just raises questions, it makes you do a double take, and it makes you think more critically about the situation and how you can have a part in making change. We wanted something that was creative and playful, knowing that it would be colourful.”

Hackergal works to provide educational opportunities and events for young students between Grades 6 and 12. Based out of Toronto, it works with educators to deliver its programming across Canada. The non-profit’s new campaign is designed, primarily, to reach individual donors to support their work, companies that can become longer-term sponsors, or educators who can administer their work to students.

The campaign includes posters that were put up around Toronto, as well as advertising on social and digital platforms, including a large campaign on LinkedIn where many of the non-profit’s potential educators and donors are.

“With any brand trying to speak to that many targets – they’re speaking to donors, educators, to the actual girls who want to be involved in this – that’s already a pretty tall order,” says Fuse Create creative director Linda Carte. 

“You’re trying to do so many things and, as we know, social media and media in general is pretty siloed and very specific. What we wanted to do is shine a light on the overarching problems to solve, which is that there are not enough women in tech.”

Finding the right tone for the campaign posed a challenge, Carte says, with diverse goals and audiences that include young learners, educators and potential donors. Fuse wanted to raise awareness for Hackergal and invite people in, while still creating a campaign that would push people to think critically. To do this, it adopted a PSA-style approach to the campaign’s messaging, with the non-profit’s bright branding colours used for its design.

Hazell says the results have been impressive since the the posters went up, with a 150% increase in unallocated donations in December 2023 compared to the same month a year earlier, a 493% spike in donation pages in December 2023 compared to the previous month, and 201% more homepage visits during the campaign period in December.

As a smaller non-profit, Hazell says it didn’t have the ability to work with external agencies in the past and that Fuse’s input has been transformative for its brand. Previously, Hackergal’s marketing has primarily been in-house work.