Chief Delphi - Why is it that not many girls are into robotics?

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Re: Why is it that not many girls are into robotics?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Amanda N. (Post 337310)

Well.. as several other people mentioned, it's mostly the stereotype issue. I think a lot of it has to do with how girls in our generation grew up. Just about all of my girl friends grew up as "girly-girls" playing with Barbies because that's what people expected them to play with. Meanwhile, most boys played with Legos and trucks. A majority of these girls stick with the girly stereotype; only with a lot of encouragement and a bit of instruction do they break out of that shell and get involved in something like robotics :)

I think the other reason for the small amount of female FIRSTers is that they usually feel overshadowed.. because we usually grow up as "girly-girl"s, most of us don't have much experience and don't have the confidence to step in and ask for help.. especially when one of our male classmates is standing there acting like they know everything and you're stupid for not knowing it.. (high school and jr. high guys act like they know wayyyy more than they do :rolleyes: )

anywhooo.. I didn't really mean to make my post so long, I just got started and couldn't stop.. :rolleyes: Hopefully more girls will discover the joys of robotics and learn to jump in and get involved!! :D

wow.... i though i would have to type out my opinion, but you nailed mine to a T!!!!

Honestly though, on 216/288 Robodawgs teams, we have 4 girls [including me]. next year, we are losing one, then in two years, we lose 2.... I am trying to convince a friend of mine to join.... She isn't sure she wants to, because she has no prior knowledge. I have tried to tell her that i didn't either at the beginning of this year. If it weren't for one or two people on my team, I would know nearly nothing, and I may have quit... O_O not fun!

whats worse is when people ignore what you are saying because you are a girl... :( geez I hope that stops, and that no one else has to go through that. its frustrating... even though we are "done" with the season, I will say that some comments still happen... though I have learned to ignore them ^^

oh well, thats my $ .02.....

PS... If any of this came out wrong/ mean sounding, I'm sorry.. apparently I have a way of wording things badly..

EDIT

Quote:

Originally Posted by kapolavery (Post 853461)

.....and also I heard chicks dig nerds.

oh yeah, nerds are the best people to talk to ^.^

Re: Why is it that not many girls are into robotics?

Well, actually most girls who I talk to robotics about think that it's cool that I'm on a team.... I think though that they think 'wow cool, but I could never do that'. Maybe also they're just plain uninterested! I never actually worked on our robot (thought I would've loved to). I went to the meetings more to learn some 3ds Max stuff. I went to the BAE regional, but wasn't really sure why since I didn't know most of the kids on the team, but it turned out to be awesome! It doesn't hurt that we won :P haha.. we have about 5 girls on the team, give or take a couple (not sure of the exact count).

Since I'm a senior and will be going to school in Florida for computer animation, I'm hoping to become a mentor eventually! I love FIRST.

P.S. I have a thing for nerds :P :P :D

Re: Why is it that not many girls are into robotics?

This year, we had 13 girls and 17 guys on the team. Many of our girls were not involved in build, which is something we are trying to change. We have one female mentor, 3 male mentors, 1 male teacher and 1 female teacher (me!). I'm definitely not a help with the technical side of things, but I do the other important jobs like making sure the robot is shipped. :)

I have high hopes for the future of the team - but would love to see more of our female students involved on the build side of the team!

Re: Why is it that not many girls are into robotics?

I have no clue, I love robotics.

The only creepy part was when I found out that at our regional, 80% of the guys wanted to "talk" to me. Creeppyyyyyy.

Re: Why is it that not many girls are into robotics?

I think that the main reason why girls aren't joining robotics is the society teaches them that they have to try to fit in with the steryotypical 'girly-girl'. It's a shame, because I've seen some engineering designs from girls and they are REALY good, but they wont go into engineering because they would become socialy outcast(to which I reply, You'll gain acceptance from the other side of society). Sigh....

Re: Why is it that not many girls are into robotics?

I (as a girl) think that many other girls don't realize what they can do on a robotics team. On my team (122) we are "dominated" by girls apparently. We have 3 girls, just 3 out of the 15 boys we have.
I also think that many girls think that robotics is "just for boys" and that all the engineering stuff is "not fun". Yet, there are some teams (all girl) that come out and prove this all wrong and show just how many girls love robotics.

Re: Why is it that not many girls are into robotics?

I am on an all-girls team and I enjoy it a lot. We do well and we have great dynamics. We are also lucky because we share a lab with an all-boys team so it turns out about equal. :)

We do a lot of activities with younger girls to try and keep them into science and technology. I (and many of my teammates) were lucky to go to a middle school that stressed science and technology for girls. It even had required CS and robotics courses.

But we find that a lot of girls who go to traditional middle schools stop paying attention to computers and robotics. They are given thousands of messages everyday from their classmates, the media and even their parents about what it means to be a girl, and to be "popular" and "pretty". It sometimes happens in elementary school but it's a lot rarer. We did a fundraiser where we taught 4th and 5th graders about 10 types of engineering. If they had been 6th and 7th graders we wouldn't have had anyone sign up. Instead we had nearly 80.

I think that this is something that we all need to work at. It's definitely improving in FIRST and a lot of girls I know are interested in technology, even if FIRST isn't necessarily their thing.

Also, I heard a rumor that there might be an all-girls regional this year, and I think that might be a good opportunity to see how other teams are doing at getting girls into robotics.

Re: Why is it that not many girls are into robotics?

I remember when I first joined our high school robotics team, there were about 5-6 girls....and they were all on the PR team. During the next 2 years they started to move into other areas such as animation and construction. It was nice to see that over 10 girls were on the team and they were the ones that were working on the robot everyday.....what a change!

Re: Why is it that not many girls are into robotics?

Quote:

Originally Posted by David Brinza (Post 853425)

As I recall, Falcons Robotics (Team 842) had an all-girls drive team at the San Diego Regional in 2007.

The next year, Team 842 won the Chairman's Award in Atlanta.

That says a lot about FIRST's commitment to breaking the gender barrier in science and technology.

We have been taking data for two years and we are getting ready to write a report about our findings. We even had some other teams helping us take data this year at the Championships. Thanks you all!

Re: Why is it that not many girls are into robotics?

Quote:

Originally Posted by JaneYoung (Post 853539)

The more women we see coaching, the more girls we'll see participating.
The more women we see as lead engineers, the more girls we'll see committing to the team.
The more women we have as 'rock stars' in FIRST, the more girls we'll see celebrating math and science and the doors they can open.
The more women who serve as strong role models, the more girls we'll see applying for and obtaining scholarships in these areas.

Lead by example.
Go the distance.
Recruit mentors, team mates, parents, sponsors, and supporters that get this or will.

It's a journey - for some, it is a lifetime adventure in the form of a goal.

Hey Jane you are almost leaking out the findings of our study! we have been taking data for two years and we are getting ready to write our report. I did not get to see you this year! I miss you!

Re: Why is it that not many girls are into robotics?

The reason that I hear a lot is that I don't have the patience for that, or that's for nerds, and all kinds of that. I find it interesting that on our team we have 2 girls as captains, Bekah and myself. I am also the only girl on our build team (well my FTC team I'm a jr member on our FRC team, which that build team is 2/3 female freshman! woo girls!) I always try to get my friends into FIRST but I have only succeeded with one of my guy friends. It really disappoints me that there are so few girls. Truly it shows womens strength and will, really it proves that women are just as able as men to do things such as robotics. Sorry this is so long, but topics like this once I get going, I don't stop very quickly.:rolleyes: