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

[TEntwistle]

As a mentor of an all-girls team (433), I have come to see the benefit to the girls with this arrangement. While it is clear that some girls on some teams excel in FIRST, it is clear that others are held back. Some never get involved because they do not think that they will be welcome. Some never reach to do more once on the team because there is already someone (a male) in that role, and some are actively discouraged from reaching out.

An example of the latter is a girl who was on our team several years ago. Mid-way through high school she transfered to another high school in the area and joined their robotics team. Despite her experience with our team, she was told that she could not use the power tools without supervision of the boys, could not design or drive. She was welcome to program and administrate. In my mind, that is what can happen when adolescent boys and adolescent girls mix in an area that has been historically the realm of the males. It also happens later in life, but that is another matter.

The real question for all teams out there is "How are you doing in making sure that girls have the same opportunity as the boys?" The sub-questions are "Is there equal representation amongst the membership of the team?" and "Do girls participate at equal levels in building, driving and all of the really fun parts?" If the answer to these questions is "No", then the answer to the main question is that "All-girls teams are not counterproductive". Yes, there are all-boys teams out there. There are some because they are from all-boys schools and some that just discourage girls from joining. The latter don't promote it because it only makes them look bad. The all-girls teams promote their uniqueness for several reasons. One is that they can catch the attention of other girls and show them that FIRST can be for them to. Another is to show their pride in being able to compete on an even playing field with the boys. Another is to show the boys that they can succeed. Later in life, these kids (as adults) will be making hiring decisions, and a boy who has seen the girls compete will be more open to hiring the female candidate than the one who has not, or more likely to work for that same woman.

Overall, the statistics for female participation in FIRST is poor compared to other areas of science (over 50% of medical students are female!). The rate of females in key roles on these teams is even worse. Other than the all-girls teams, does anybody know of any team where there are 2 girls as the first and second drivers? Until the perceptions of female particpation changes, this will never improve. The all-girls teams are just one way in which perceptions can be altered. What they need to be careful about is that they use their status as a way to get more girls involved (and at higher levels) and not use it as a crutch.

Our team hosted girlPOWER (an off season event) last fall and had 10 teams participate. There were a few things worth mentioning that demonstrate how powerful that was for promoting girls' involvement. One girl from a coed team showed up without a team, and joined a group of girls from other teams on the "orphan team" (another school had brought a practice robot). As lead driver, she was able to take that team far in the competition - something she may not have been able to do without this opportunity. An all-boys school team lent their robot to an all-girls school who had no team and let them compete. They are now looking into combining as a coed team or having the girls school develop an official separate team. Again, an opportunity they would never have had. Finally, there were young girls from middle schools in the region who came to the competition and saw first hand how much fun the kids were having. A few of these might end up in FIRST, but all of them saw how girls can succeed if they try.