ON THE RAILS: Workshop organisers Kelly Cheesman and Merrin Macleod want to give women the tools to build apps.

Rails Girls is teaching girls internet application coding – and seeking to right the gender imbalance in the IT industry.

Workshop organisers Kelly Cheesman and Merrin Macleod both work as web developers and see first-hand the high proportion of males in the industry.

"Within companies, mostly there's either one or two females in a tech crew – if that," Cheesman says.

"It's self-perpetuating. Nobody wants to be the only woman in a crew," Macleod adds.

They both say they are unsure why the tech industry is so male-dominated, and Rails Girls seeks to increase the pool of tech-savvy females for employers to recruit from.

"A lot of companies in Wellington are on a recruitment drive, and a lot of them are specifically trying to combat the gender imbalance," Cheesman says.

This is the first time the free international workshop has been held in Wellington, and the pair have been overwhelmed with interest.

"We can only take 30 people and applications were open for a week and we had 80 people apply," Cheesman says.

The workshop will teach attendees the Ruby on Rails coding system, which will allow them to make web apps as well as apps for mobiles.

The system is designed to be user-friendly, allowing anyone with a creative mind to design apps, Macleod says.

Rails Girls, which is being held at Xero tonight and tomorrow, will give women the basic tools to build apps, and with more practice, they would be in a good position for employment, Cheesman says. The youngest attendee is 11, and there are also high school students, stay-at-home mothers, and an unemployed woman who wants to use the workshop to help her get a job, she says.

"Often in the media you see how big unemployment is at the moment, but in the right industry there are a lot of opportunities. It will show people you don't have to go to uni ... there's a lot of demand for this skill."

The pair plan to hold future events including regular meet-ups. Head to railsgirls.com/wellington for more information.