Quote:
Originally Posted by Alexa Stott
In addition to having a lack of role models, popular culture also teaches that nerdy/smart/geeky/technologically savvy women are undesirable and must change to a more "typical" woman. Playing dumb is what makes you attractive. The movies and tv shows that we are presented with reinforce this idea. One of the most popular movies of the past decade, Mean Girls, plays right into this. Cady must hide her proficiency in math in order to fit in with the popular girls and get the guy. This is just one example out of many. Movies that try to challenge this idea are few and far between. The powerful people (in general, affluent white men) do not like to see their power challenged.
|
I always feel weird when I meet a girl who is cool enough to be nerdy/smart/geeky/technologically savvy, because I feel like it should be celebrated on so many levels, gender being one of the less important if not the least important one. To me, any person brave enough to stand up before the prevailing culture of anti-intellectualism is a hero. To add generations upon generations of sexism into that mix is an even greater accomplishment. And yet, it's difficult for me to celebrate that with that person. I can't tell if this is clear or not, but it bothers me that I have to stop and consider whether I'm being sexist or otherwise degrading in appreciating a girl's geekiness.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Alexa Stott
My last thought on this is that we also must be careful about engaging in benevolent sexism (seriously, read this article). When young women join robotics, they are treated differently, even if this different treatment is positive. This just reinforces the idea that women need men to help them along on the path to success. This is one of the reasons I'm on the fence about all-girls teams (except, of course, for teams that are all girls because they go to an all girls school). Is this an example of separate but equal? Part of me views this as an example of benevolent sexism. It's not reflective of the real world and it could potentially be harmful to both men and women in that women are set apart as being "different." This could potentially teach women that they can only succeed in all-female spaces. It could also teach men that women cannot keep up with them and never gives them the opportunity to experience working in a diverse group including different genders. |
I am by no means an expert in this field, but I have heard of some studies that show girls being more successful in at least science classes in single sex environments. I do agree that that sort of environment is only so useful, however. It's a stepping stone at best. Having been in single sex classes for all of high school, I am beyond ready to be in an environment where unbridled displays of testosterone fueled dude-age are frowned upon or at least checked by the presence of the opposite sex. FIRST is not an end in and of itself, but a stepping stone, like all of education, so if it's helpful for girls to work on a single sex team, I'd gladly support it.