[Ebolagirl]

We, society as a whole, seem to think that nowadays much of the gender discrimination that was once prevalent in our society has been obliterated. And while there has been much reform (thanks to women's suffrage and events like the world wars that elevated and changed women's roles in society) there is still a great deal of bias and stereotype surrounding gender roles. After all, aren’t little boys made fun of if they show interest in “womanly” things like cooking, and little girls called “tomboys” if they like climbing trees and collecting bugs?

Because of this social dogma FIRST tends to appeal to males more often than females because of this subtle, yet existent stereotypes that are ingrained in children from the day they are born (boys dressed in little blue hospital outfits, and girls in pink). Building robots, using power tools, and having spitting contests are usually seen as “manly” things to do. Therefore women shy away from them, not just because men hold these stereotypes of women, but because women hold them of themselves.

My teammate (who is also female) and I were once ostracized by other maler members of out team for referring to Vex robots as “cute” because they tend to resemble miniature FIRST robots. We were to never refer to a robot as “cute” again (like we listened). This shows some of the attitude that still encircles many aspects of engineering. Robots are manly and therefore not cute.

While there may still be stereotyping occurring in the world of engineering I believe that it is the responsibility of women, not men, to break through it. After all, a woman is the only one who can prove a woman’s abilities. If women really want men to respect them in the world of science, mathematics, and engineering then we need to jump in there and show them we can do it. That is what I did. And that is what all the other great women of science and politics did. Without personal motivation and drive women will remain in a sort of scientific limbo. So to all the other future women scientists, mathematicians, and engineers out there, take your own steps, don’t expect someone (especially men) to give you a ride into the scientific community, because we are, after all, trying to break the cycle of dependency. Perhaps Mattel © can entice little girls to enter an engineering career by mass producing Barbie© Shop, chop saw and all…