Are all girl FIRST team counterproductive to the philosophy of FIRST?

[Phcullen]

Originally Posted by MamaSpoldi

one thing that I see that truly upsets me is when an all-girls team receives an award and it is implied that the judges were impressed by what they did considering it was all girls. This is completely unacceptable either to give the award for that reason or to imply such when it is in fact not the case. If the girls are not held to the same standards as the boys, they are left feeling like they cannot measure up those standards - a ridiculous notion. And implying that the standard is different is as just as damaging. So I ask that people judge females in engineering not because they are girls but regardless of it.

this is what i was referring to when i stated that the formation of these teams implies a handicap

Originally Posted by purpleandplasma

i know for a fact that women of engineering will only support an all girls team, and if a team started up for all girls, had them as a sponsor, then added guys, they would loose that sponsor... which i get, but i think it is unfair

here is a problem where we see a group that has all the right to chose who they support and they obviously would want to support teams encouraging women to go into engineering. but wouldn't supporting teams that have women mentors be a better use of there money? not only would it give the girls on the team an example of a woman who has succeeded in that field but also discourage boys on the team from developing thoughts that women are incapable or less capable of succeeding in those fields

once again i would like to restate a question and instead of asking if all girl teams should not be allowed in FIRST what i really want to ask is <u>should the development of all exclusive teams be discouraged on FRC teams in FIRST?</u> because it encourages the thought that men and women are not equally capable. no one can say they have never felt differently about a team when they hear that it is all girl regardless of this feeling being positive or negative having the segregation will make you think differently and subconsciously question equality between the sexes not only in opportunity but also in capability. i also specifically stated FRC in this because i do see in importance to discourage the stereotype that are being installed into young children

if sexism to the point of discouragement for women to advance in education is still as prevalent in other arias and more of a problem than i have personally ever seen, where girls are not encourage to participate that maybe having teams strictly for girls is the way to go. but then this really doesn't do anything to change the prejudice that is there and only shelters the girls from that

Mikell Taylor's story is wonderful and give good reason to the development of all girl teams. I would like to thank her for her input

Kims Robot- i enjoyed what you wrote too but when you answer your own question of "Is it EASY to be a Female in Engineering?" you seem to start blaming women who " give in to society and use their gender to more advantage than their brain." and yet you state earlier in your same set of answers that you certainly did take advantage of this with job interviews where you knew your gender was the only thing that made you more desirable to the potential employer. i am not accusing you of anything and nor should anyone else nobody would give up any advantage they had on there competition. just as they found a way to get payed without doing as much work there is clearly a problem but no one is going to remove quotas for employment or enrollment in fear of being accused that they are against equal opportunity.

if there are any members or alumni of co-ed teams with an all girl team in the aria i would like to hear your views on this topic and how you think having that effects your team/the girls on your team(if there are any) and anything else you would like to say. your thought would be greatly appreciated//if you know anybody in this scenario could you please refer them to this thread?