Only 20% of hackathon participants are women, similar in scope to the underrepresentation of women in computer science and other tech fields. Since 2017 The Expat Woman has been addressing this gender gap by hosting successful all-women hackathons.COVID-19 has drastically impacted lives globally. The challenges and hardships are too many to list. And even when the lockdown is called off and this pandemic is finally over, it may take months for life to get back to normal. Women have been hit hardest by this crisis.To help find solutions to challenges faced by women now and post COVID-19, we hosted our 6th WomenHack and 1st Virtual Global Hackathon, Women Hack the Crisis from April 30th to May 7th. |
10 teams, 11 time zones, 1 week.
Women with diverse professional backgrounds from countries across the globe including Japan, Muscat, India, Australia, the UK, Argentina, Canada and cities across the US collaborated in teams to create innovative solutions to challenges faced by women during COVID-19.
One week later, on May 7th, 10 teams presented their final projects and shared their demos virtually to a panel of judges.
VOTE FOR YOUR FAVORITE TEAM
Our hackathon participants worked hard to create these outstanding projects and we want to share them with our network. We are also introducing the ‘Audience Award’ for the hackathon projects in these three categories.
Best solution to a COVID-19 challenge faced by women
Best design and user experience
Best use of code
Check out each team’s project below and then vote for them here.
1.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.
2. 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.
View their project here
3. 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.
View their project here
4. 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).
5. Linqua – 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.
View their project here
6. ThirdSpace – 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.
View their project here
7. Lily – Many new mothers feel lonely, stressed and depressed. Lily is a platform to support new moms by connecting them to local experienced moms. It is built to encourage learning, foster friendship between mothers and build a supportive community.
View their project here
8. Women2Work – 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.
View their project here
9.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.
View their project here
10.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.
View their project here
Don’t forget to vote for your favorite teams here.
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