A machine that could weave silk and numbers into patterns was the subject of Ada Lovelace‘s imagination long before Silicon Valley was a reality. Known as the first computer program ever created, Lovelace wrote the instructions for Charles Babbage’s Analytical Engine in the 1840s, which was designed to perform any mathematical operation.
However, Lovelace had a vision beyond numbers. In code, she saw beauty, music, and creativity. According to Lovelace, the engine “may compose complex and scientific pieces of music.”
Technology was never limited to machines after that period. It was about imagination, reasoning and having the guts to believe in something that didn’t yet exist. These initial sparks were created by women whose names influenced the fundamental foundations of computers. They were visionaries, builders, and philosophers.
However, at some point, these tales were erased or slowly forgotten. The caricature of the “programmer” grew increasingly limited and restricted, erasing the individuals who had authored its first chapters.
Grace Hopper pushed the same limits of imagination a century after Ada Lovelace. As a Navy officer and mathematician, she recognized that computers might be more than just devices for calculating numbers. She created the first compiler, the link that made it possible for humans to communicate with computers in natural language. Coding may still be a language that only computers could comprehend in her absence.
Then there were the ENIAC (Electronic Numerical Integrator And Computer) programmers, six women who were hired to work on one of the earliest electronic computers in history during World War II. They lacked manuals, plans, and recognition.
They relied solely on their intuition and perseverance to devise the logic that underpins contemporary computers. Their names were ultimately recognized decades later, serving as a reminder to the world that invisible hands had written history.
Mary Jackson, Dorothy Vaughan and Katherine Johnson extended that tradition into the era of space travel at NASA. They used calculations to land people and steer spaceships into orbit safely. Even though they fought to be noticed in several ways while working in segregated workplaces, their knowledge propelled humanity’s leap beyond Earth.
Programming was primarily left to women in the early decades of computers since it was viewed as a laborious clerical job that required attention to detail. However, that view changed as computers started to influence government, industry, and research.
Coding suddenly became a prestigious symbol. Women were subtly pushed to the sides while men poured into the sport. The women who had laid the groundwork for technology were therefore left out of the narrative and their achievements hidden behind decades of myth.
However, the tale is being revised today. In every industry, from artificial intelligence and climate science to aerospace, women are creating, coding, and engineering. Consider Fei-Fei Li, whose contributions to AI vision systems enable robots to “see” with empathy and context.
Or Reshma Saujani, whose Girls Who Code initiative has made it possible for a new generation of young women to envision themselves working in technology.
There are innumerable women who are in charge of research laboratories, enterprises and schools, helping to create a more inclusive future than the one that existed in the past.
This has nothing to do with getting back what has been lost. It’s essential to remember that technology has never been exclusive to any one gender, mentality, or personality type. When creativity and curiosity come together, innovation flourishes, and everyone possesses these traits.
You are not an outsider if you are a woman studying, coding, creating, or daring to pursue a career in STEM. You belong to a tradition that dates back over 200 years; it is a tale of individuals who saw opportunity where others saw constraints.
You carry on Ada’s work by bringing your ideas to life when you sit in front of a screen to fix a persistent problem or create something completely original. We are all responsible for the beginnings of code.
However, it’s essential to remember who the first people were to see its humanity, beauty, and promise. This is because the history of technology is, and has always been, a tale of women who took the initiative to shape the future without waiting for approval.