Reshma Saujani told a generation of girls that if they gained coding skills, they would be halfway to a productive, fulfilling career. But in her new book "Pay Up: The Future of Women and Work," the Girls Who Code founder admits the cards are still stacked against those girls — and only systemic change can provide true equity.

Why it matters: Saujani's new tome offers a powerful counterweight to the notion that the biggest thing standing in the way of women's success is a skills gap and that women don't have to make sacrifices to advance in their careers.

• "Having it all is a euphemism for doing it all," Saujani said in an interview. "We should throw it in the garbage."

That's a big shift for Saujani who, as head of Girls Who Code, became the standard-bearer for the idea that the main issue facing women in tech was that skills gap.

• Critics of Girls Who Code's skills-based approach have long argued that systemic inequalities, shaped by ingrained racism and sexism, were the dominant forces keeping women from achieving their full potential.
• "I was wrong," Saujani now freely admits. "I’m embarrassed by that."

The big picture: Saujani's shift has been in process for a while now. In January 2021 she began advocating for a Marshall Plan for Moms, calling on businesses and government to dismantle the structural barriers that keep women from being able to juggle home and work lives."We’re never getting to equality in the workplace if we don’t get to equality at home," she said.

• Getting paid child care is a crucial first step, Saujani said, pointing with frustration to the inability of Congress to provide money for child care and paid leave. "I am really angry," she said. "We bailed out airlines and we couldn’t bail out child care."
• Tech companies have been at the forefront of offering paid leave, both before and during the pandemic. However, many still have different rules for men and women, either in policy or in practices.

Yes, but: The so-called Great Resignation has led to a significant talent shortage that could provide an opening for women to demand greater equity at work and at home, she said. "We have power right now."

• The most needed change is subsidized childcare. "Right now they'll freeze your eggs," but they won't pay for childcare, Saujani said. "That no longer is tenable."

Between the lines: It's worth noting that my conversation with Saujani took place over Zoom while she was on her laptop in her son's bedroom, trying to keep him entertained with Legos, given he was on spring break.

• Her husband, venture capitalist Nihal Mehta, had commandeered the home's better video chat setup, where he was meeting with his fellow partners.
• And, really, that's kind of Saujani's point.

Go deeper: I'll be interviewing Saujani live next week at an online gathering of the Commonwealth Club. Get more info and tickets here.

Seeking to protect veterans from cyberattacks and to teach kids about disinformation, lawmakers are introducing two different bills to address heightened homeland security concerns after Russia's invasion of Ukraine, as Axios' Sophia Cai reports.

Why it matters: Since the start of the war, much of the attention has been on how to supply humanitarian and military aid to Ukraine. Now, lawmakers are thinking about nonmilitary attacks Russia could unleash on the United States.

Driving the news: Sens. Jacky Rosen (D-Nev.) and Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) have introduced a bipartisan bill to bolster cybersecurity at the Department of Veterans Affairs.

• It would require the secretary of Veterans Affairs to obtain an independent cybersecurity assessment of VA information systems and submit to Congress a plan to address weaknesses.
• Companion legislation in the House will be introduced by Rep. Frank Mrvan (D-Ind.), chairman of the Technology Modernization subcommittee on the House Veterans' Affairs Committee.

To help Americans recognize Russian disinformation, Rep. Don Beyer (D-Va.) introduced legislation that would establish a commission to support media literacy and promote disinformation education.

• "The most immediate concern is the Russian disinformation surrounding Ukraine," Beyer told Axios. "We also know that Russia tried to do the same thing in the 2016 and 2020 elections. So responding to foreign actors is a main driver, but a second main driver is looking at [disinformation around] COVID-19."
• Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), chair of the House Intelligence Committee, said he also expects to press social media companies about how they plan to handle Russian disinformation on their platforms.
• This adds to the pressure from lawmakers about falsehoods ranging from pandemic science to voting fraud.

Our thought bubble, from Axios' Ashley Gold: Lawmakers may find something to agree on for cybersecurity efforts.

• That said, these efforts are likely to get mired in partisan fights, if recent history regarding the coronavirus and election misinformation is any indication.

Crypto apps are in. The last three months of 2021 saw more than 100 million downloads for the first time ever in a single quarter, according to data firms Adjust and Apptopia, as Brady Dale reports.

Why it matters: The increased popularity of crypto apps shows crypto assets are entering the mainstream. Many investors rely on third party apps to do the heavy lifting for them, rather than the more technical approach of interacting directly with blockchains.

Context: Any attempt to measure the total crypto market that doesn't take app usage into account should be viewed as incomplete.

• There are likely many, many more owners of cryptocurrency than we can see via "on-chain" data, because so many of the newest buyers are using third party platforms, such as the Coinbase, Binance or FTX apps, to manage their holdings.
• Apps are a much easier way to interact with these assets than the means preferred by hardcore crypto users, a so-called "wallet." (Just as a person can run their own email server, but most prefer to use Gmail.)
• However, they also introduce third-party risks that wallets evade.

By the numbers: 2021's bull market for app downloads was much stronger than 2017's, when crypto app downloads first broke 20 million downloads in a single quarter, by the report's reckoning.

• That was the high water mark until the first quarter of 2021, when downloads fell just short of 100 million.

Crypto app adoption began growing in 2020 before really taking off in 2021. The growth largely tracked with prices of the major coins, bitcoin and ether.

• Downloads in 2020 grew 64% over the prior year, and then by 400% in 2021. Sessions grew even more last year, with overall sessions up 567% over the prior year, topping four billion sessions in the fourth quarter.
• Growth dropped off precipitously in the third quarter of 2021, along with the crypto market itself, with downloads falling in the 50 million range.

On Tap

• Just regular beer, though there may still be just a hint of green left over from yesterday, if you hurry.

Trading Places

• Plant-based meat company Impossible Foods named former Chobani COO Peter McGuinness as its next CEO, with founder Pat Brown staying on as chief visionary officer.

ICYMI

• Australian regulators have sued Meta for allowing fake cryptocurrency ads on its platform there. (Reuters)

Check out these printed circuit birds. (And no, that's not a typo.)