Are you ready to hack?
Since 2017 The Expat Woman has been addressing the gender gap in hackathons and encouraging women to get involved in tech and create innovative tech projects by hosting all-women hackathons.
This is not your ordinary hackathon. This is a virtual, hackathon for women from across the globe where we take you on this journey from pitching an idea, creating a team, managing your project, collaborating and communicating, to building your product and pitching and promoting your final product.
Calling all coders, aspiring entrepreneurs, designers, project managers and anyone interested in building an app, website or game to join us. You do not have to have a coding background to participate
Who should participate
Rookie: You have never participated in a hackathon and are curious to see what all the hype is about. You may not have a tech or coding background but are open to getting out of your comfort zone to share your skills and gain experience as a hackathon participant.
Aspiring Entrepreneur: You have an idea that you want to turn into an MVP at a hackathon. You are also looking for potential cofounders amongst the attendees.
Previous Participants: You have participated in our previous hackathons or other hackathons and you love hackathons because of the amazing connections you make, the skills you are constantly honing or acquiring and experiences and ideas you are exposed to.
Why you should participate in our hackathon
Hackathons are a gateway to entrepreneurship. They expose you to the process of turning a business idea into reality, working in teams to develop the idea and pitching the innovation.
Opportunity to use your coding, design, product expertise, ideas or creativity to find solutions to challenges faced by women
Access to our private hackathon slack channel and Facebook group
Network with other professional women and mentors from diverse industries and share knowledge and expertise
Learn new skills by participating that you can add to your bio, resume, LinkedIn profile
Access to workshops on topics that will help with your hackathon project and also with your work as a creator, innovator, entrepreneur
Free tickets to our Start Yours One-Day Conference on May 12th
This year’s International Women’s Day theme and theme for our Women Hackathon is
Choose To Challenge
- We can choose to challenge and call out gender bias and inequality
- We can choose to seek out and celebrate women’s achievements
- Collectively, we can all help create an inclusive world
- Change won’t happen without choosing to challenge it
Hackathon Challenges
Hackathon Challenge 1: Find solutions to end gender bias and discrimination in the hiring process and at the workplace so women thrive in their careers and their achievements are celebrated
Hackathon Challenge 2: Find solutions to encourage more girls and women to step into STEM fields of studies and work
Hackathon Challenge 3: Find solutions to create gender equality in entrepreneurship so women have access to funding, resources and mentors
Hackathon Challenge 4: Find solutions to encourage and empower women to reach their goals, achieve their full potential and become leaders in their area of expertise
Hackathon Challenge 5: Find solutions to help immigrant or refugee women who are new to a country get access to resources, supportive networks, and opportunities
Hackathon Challenge 6: Find solutions to help women in unsafe home or work environments get access to support and resources.
Schedule
APRIL 29TH – MAY 22ND
April 29th : Pitch your idea
April 30th – May 2nd : Team formation ( 6 – 9 persons per team)
May 3rd – May 10th : Build Period
May 10th : Projects due and pitch practice
May 12th : 3 min pitch to panel of judges + 2 mins Q&A from judges at Start Yours Conference
May 12th – May 21st : Judging period
May 22nd : Results announced
FAQs
The hackathon is open to women and anyone who identifies as a woman from anywhere in the world. Read all Rules and Code of Conduct Here.
Minimum of six and a maximum of nine team members.
Yes. You have to have a minimum of 6 and a maximum of 9 members. Each of them will have to purchase a ticket.
You do not need a coding background or hackathon experience to participate. Projects also often need people with diverse backgrounds including designers, project managers, business backgrounds and more. We will also have talks, workshops, and mentors to help you with your project. You need to have the interest, the enthusiasm and willing to put in the hard work and collaborate with your team to build your project.
After participants pitch their ideas on April 29th, the next two days are spent building teams . To keep the playing field fair, we ask teams not to begin building until May 3rd when all the teams are created. If your project is an upgrade to an existing project, please check with us beforehand.
SPONSORS
Interested in sponsoring this hackathon? E-mail us at hello@theexpatwoman.com for more details.
Women Hack the Crisis 2020 Projects
100 + women. 11 time zones. 10 teams.
Here is a peek into their projects focused on finding solutions to challenges faced by women during COVID.
GiveLocal is a platform that directs gift cards from small local businesses to local organizations doing COVID relief. A donor will come to our website or app, select a type of donation (restaurant gift card, yoga class, morning coffee) and choose an organization to send it to.
Therapy Circles is a web application that provides free grief counseling for women/nonbinary communities who have been impacted by COVID-19. Patients can easily set up an account, match with a licensed therapist, and book virtual therapy sessions.
ThirdSpace is a platform that allows women to connect digitally while physically separated by keeping each other accountable with daily walks, sharing meditation minutes, tackling recipe challenges, or hosting music/movie viewing parties together.
Lily is a platform to support new moms by connecting them to local experienced moms.Many new mothers feel lonely, stressed and depressed. It is built to encourage learning, foster friendship between mothers and build a supportive community.
Women2Work is a platform for unemployed women to upgrade/learn skills, attend networking events, and connect with mentors. The focus is to build genuine relationships between mentors and mentees by connecting women with similar skills, interests, and hobbies.
Glittr is a platform that supports children’s wellbeing through creative outlets in art, dance, improv and more. Kids (ages 8-10) will be able to express themselves and share with others to help reduce anxiety, build confidence and cope with stress. So children have the space to sparkle at home– without a big glitter clean-up.
Hotel Haven is a platform that connects women, essential workers and anyone in need to hotel rooms for a safe space or to quarantine. In addition people can donate hotel gift cards to help support those seeking shelter.
EmpathicHealth is a team composed of brilliant-minded professional women who are innovators, pioneers, developers, designers, coders, business entrepreneurs, and who are mothers, sisters, and daughters. The team of women is working to develop and create a product and service to positively impact and support women with mental health challenges, eg, depression, suicides, and domestic violence during and post-COVID-19 crisis, as well as provide integrated support for the CareGiver and Care Provider.
Linqua is a crowd-sourcing app matching second language speakers for translation and clarification of COVID info for minority communities. Getting potentially life-saving information out to the harder to reach parts of society, lending them social support, and countering misinformation.
WHOW! (Women Helping Other Women) – BEBO (a shortened version of ‘Benefits Bot’) is a free conversational AI chatbot designed to assist those who lost their jobs due to COVID-19 seek information about unemployment benefits. A recent study by the Economic Policy Institute found that over 12 million people did not apply because it was too difficult and confusing. BEBO is unique in that she was built on extracting knowledge base from real stories of people from the most vulnerable sections of the society (caregivers, immigrants, refugees, undocumented, etc.) who wouldn’t otherwise get information readily from government websites. BEBO is bilingual: she can answer questions in English and Spanish (she is live on the project link).
