[Moon2020]

To add to the discussion, a few thoughts and real examples:

Most females want to help people. They do not necessarily see how engineering helps people when they are K-12. What is engineering and how does it help people? needs to be introduced to them before grade 6 to spark their interest.

The SWE booth at Champs was performing various hands-on workshops with the students. I perform hands-on workshops with female students to let them create a mini-robot of their own design that they can take home with them - a lesson in creativity and design. They seem to love it once they get past the part of there are no directions (I get asked sometimes). Some get it on their own, some partner, some copy off their neighbor, and some do not even try because "it's too hard". Some think it's 35 minutes of social time.

The lack of women in STEM is complicated and is going to take much time to fix. I would like to think it is getting better as new hires are pushing employers to be the workplaces of the future and instituting change. Just know that there have also been several studies on why women in engineering leave the workforce (just because they enter it, it does not mean they will stay in it).

People fear that which they do not understand. That fear leads people to act out against their fears and the people in their workplace. Instead of accepting diversity, they create adversity vs. taking a live-and-let-live attitude. For example: I had a supervisor who hated goth kids/people who shopped at Wal-Mart and had no qualms about expressing her disgust either. I know someone else who thinks gay men are going to recruit his sons to be gay. Just know that not everyone is a natural includer.

There are still men in the engineering workforce who believe that women should not be engineers: their opinion is that a woman's place in their workplace is to bake cookies, make copies, and fetch their coffee for them. I say this because I had two physically attractive female friends who had this actually happen to them. Another friend worked for a company who's CEO hated women in his workplace. She is an amazing woman, and she really helped them out with their production.

Certain sectors of engineering are still very very conservative. Do not show tattoos, piercings, unnatural hair colors, or say what you really think or feel because people form perceptions based on what you look like rather they actually know you or not. One of the ladies who worked on the same floor as I did would wear super short skirts, wedged espadrilles, and low-cut sleeveless tops to work. It makes people stereotype her into the category of performing certain types of favors in exchange for promotions - rather is was true or not - she was sending the wrong message. Keep in mind that the engineering staff is not allowed to wear skirts/dresses, heels, open-toed shoes, jewelry, etc. in the processing areas that had metal grating platforms.

TV shows like TBBT are not helping: People identify with Penny and laugh at the expense of the smart characters. I had to stop watching because I know real people just like Sheldon, Raj, Howard, Amy, Bernadette, Leonard, and yes, Penny and I could not stand seeing them be the butt of jokes/made fun of week after week. It feeds the stereotypes and the us vs. them.

Not everyone can be a doctor, lawyer, engineer, mechanic, computer programmer, pharmacist, teacher, nurse, brick layer, general contractor, electrician, plumber, airline pilot, waiter/waitress, cashier, etc. Not everyone possesses the skill-sets needed even if they are smart. It takes determination, persistence, passion, perseverance, problem solving, and a positive attitude to be successful. Otherwise, we end up with people who are mediocre or below mediocre at what they spent so much money to learn in school/university.

With that being said, sometimes weaker areas can be improved upon. I had issues with math that I had to overcome. It took about 30 minutes of sitting down with a professor to figure out my issue, and I never had a problem after that point. Math is just like any other problem in life: 1) recognize the type of problem; 2) what are the steps to solve that type of problem?; 3) what do you think the answer should be? 4) solve the problem; 5) Do the Results make sense/are the results in the ballpark?