A year of girls, code and confidence – What we learned along the way
06/01/26
Conversations about girls and digital skills often circle familiar themes: participation rates, skills gaps and future jobs. These debates matter. Yet looking back on a year of discussions around EU Code Week, one insight stands out.
What shapes girls’ relationship with technology is not access alone, but confidence – the confidence to explore, experiment and see digital tools as something they can shape, not just use.
Why hesitation persists
Across Europe, girls grow up immersed in digital environments. They create content, navigate platforms and interact daily with increasingly sophisticated technologies. Yet when it comes to coding and emerging digital skills, hesitation persists.
The barrier is rarely a lack of ability. More often, it is uncertainty: fear of getting things wrong, the sense that coding is “not for them”, or the belief that digital creation requires perfection from the outset.
When digital skills feel human
One lesson echoed throughout this year is simple yet powerful: girls engage when digital skills feel human, creative and meaningful. Coding becomes less intimidating when it is framed as exploration rather than performance.
Confidence grows in environments where experimentation is encouraged. When girls are invited to test ideas, remix projects and learn through trial and error, digital skills stop feeling like a test and start feeling like a tool.
Coding, citizenship and agency
This shift matters well beyond the classroom. Coding literacy helps young people better understand the technologies shaping everyday life – from algorithms and data to AI-driven systems – giving them the confidence to question how those systems work.
This perspective aligns with broader European ambitions around digital inclusion and citizenship. The European Commission’s Digital Decade vision recognises digital skills as essential not only for competitiveness, but for participation in society more broadly.
Looking ahead with confidence
Seen through this lens, coding is not just preparation for future careers. It is about agency: understanding how digital systems influence everyday life and having the confidence to engage with them actively.
Whether through playful coding challenges, creative projects or early exposure to AI concepts, these experiences help girls see themselves as participants in the digital world – not outsiders.
As EU Code Week continues to bring together communities across Europe, its impact is often found in small but meaningful moments: a first line of code written without fear, a moment when technology feels accessible rather than abstract.
As the year comes to an end, the focus for the months ahead is not simply “more coding”, but more confident coders. Carrying curiosity, creativity and confidence into the new year will matter just as much as introducing new tools or concepts.
If Europe wants a digital future shaped by diverse voices and ideas, it starts by ensuring that girls feel welcome, capable and empowered in digital spaces. This year reminded us that confidence is not a side effect of digital skills – it sits at their very core.
As we look ahead to the next edition of EU Code Week, that may be the most valuable lesson to take forward.
