Quote:
Originally Posted by Tim Sharp
That sounds good in theory, but is problematic in practice. If I were to insist that certain members of the team participate in something other than their favored area while others are allowed to work on the team of their choice, I would soon find myself on the receiving end of a "favoritism" charge (this is not conjecture, it's happened).
What would I tell a student when confronted with the situation? "You can't do what you want like everyone around you, because you're a girl"?
It comes down to a choice. Do I dictate how everyone participates, or do I allow them to choose. In my opinion, a more productive and harmonious environment is achieved by allowing everyone to match their interests to their contributions. This, in my opinion, allows students to develop a sense of ownership in the project, which is the real key to unlocking potential.
Not to say that I haven't moved students around when the need arose. However, when I did there was always a clearly articulated reason for it and little room for argument that it was done for any reason other than what was good for the team. It is also understood that the younger members of the team will have less autonomy as to their designation (but not none), and earn the right to choose their specialty as they gain experience.
I would also argue that the girls on the CAD, Controls and Electrical team are as deeply embedded in STEM as anyone on the team. They are certainly cut no slack and are expected to contribute as equals. And they do.
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I think it's problematic in practice if guys on the team are uneducated in this kind of matter. When I first joined 842 as a freshmen, I thought it was a little off putting at first that girls on the team received "favoritism" because they seemed to be pushed more to leave their comfort zone and do the jobs that society has deemed they can't do as Madison put it. At first I was a little off put at this but veteran members of the team and mentors quickly broke this mindset of mine by explaining to me challenges girls face in terms of breaking stereotypes. From there I started thinking about how my whole life, girls were constantly divided from boys in what they should play with, what they should like, and what they should be when they grow up. It's especially bad in the area of Carl Hayden where many families have the stigma that girls should only stay at home and take care of kids. It's an awful truth but the truth nonetheless. As I went through high school with the team, I started to realize why mentors and veteran members pushed girls more. Maybe they didn't delve into aspects like Mechanical as fast as the guys but the closer and closer it got to senior year, the more the idea of being whatever you want to be in life became the norm. Stereotypes were broken down and is what I believe to be a key reason as to why girls on our team go on to do pretty amazing things along with guys. Don't get me wrong too, no one on the team was forced to do anything they didn't want to do. Things were simply highly encouraged and at the end of the day, people did their jobs because they wanted to do it.
As far as your first point though about degrading the guys in the article, perhaps the wording of that could be better but as a guy who was on the team for four years, I was taught extensively that the only validation you need is from yourself so the article doesn't bother me at all. I know I worked hard and dedicated my life to the team and don't really need anyone to validate that for me. I also understand why articles like these need to exist and why stories like these need to get out. Like Madison said we can't just pretend these problems don't exist. Of course every area in the country and the world are different and these problems may not even exist at all in some of these areas, but for many others they do. Just my thoughts and of course people have different experiences and thoughts.