[indieFan]

I'd like to propose one other hypothesis as to why so many females end up in leadership positions on teams:

Females tend to see the bigger picture rather than focus on the details.

One of my previous teams which was co-ed tended to have females in leadership roles every year.

My other previous team was all-female, so it doesn't count.

My current team is looking at having 2 of three positions be female (actually named by current students and outgoing seniors) based on the leadership qualities the team came up with at the last meeting.

Interestingly, subsystems have been a mixed bag of being led by females and males. Some years we had some really strong, knowledgeable females, others it was heavily male dominated. But it truly was based on knowledge and wanting to lead it.

Finally, to address the mentors:
First team: 1 female (myself), 4 males, 1 male teacher (typical year)
All-girls team: 1 female (myself), 3 males, 1 female teacher (non-technical)
Current team: 1 female (myself), 1 male, and 1 female teacher (currently teaching robotics and programming at the HS, but learning FRC)

One thing that NONE of my teams has ever done has said, "You can or can't do that based on your gender." It has always been, "You can do this, let me show you how," or "You can't do that because it isn't safe," or "You should do this because it's a better way."

I was lucky to grow up with a mother that encouraged my to follow my own preferences. She wanted a girl that she could dress up, instead she got a tomboy. There's a great picture of me at age 2 or 3 in a dress standing on a piece of wood climbing a brick wall in the yard. She always bought me Tonka trucks. She never said, "You can't be (blank) because you're a girl." Instead, she knew I wanted to learn to use my dad's table saw and scroll saw, so she asked another teacher at her school to come over and show me how to use them safely. Because of the environment that I grew up in, I have a hard time understanding females that say they are discouraged or told they can't do something.

And, for the record, she still tries to get me to dress up and wear make-up and jewelry. I'm better about dressing up for holidays, but make-up and jewelry are still arguments. *LOL*