Research says: Feminine STEM role models do not motivate girls

[Kims Robot]

Originally Posted by Katie_UPS

Personally, I wonder if the researched asked the girls how "feminine" they see themselves. I think girls [people] don't want to feel pressured to change how they act/dress/etc and so a role-model who is different from them is threatening/hard to identify with.
Thoughts?

Katie - Thanks for bringing up this very thought provoking topic!! I was just reading Brain Rules, and they have a great chapter on actual physiological differences between the male and female brain. To me the most interesting were some of the studies on how men & women communicated in the workplace and even younger students in the classroom.

Originally Posted by ManicMechanic

At the core of STEM is the desire to discover/create something cool, and that desire must take precedence over image, or it comes across as fake. Someone with an obvious passion for a scientific endeavor, and oh, by the way, they happen to be good-looking, too, works. But a video which demonstrates someone who has obviously expended their best, most serious time and effort into looking attractive, and oh, by the way, in their leftover time, they're into science, too, leaves a bad taste. This applies to both women and men, but especially so for women, because physical attractiveness has historically been emphasized for them.

You make some really great points here, and with some in depth thinking, I have to wonder why we actually disassociate attractiveness from ability to be good at STEM... I don't know if its just a generalization (look around an engineering college, really, what percentage of people there are really attractive?? I hate to say it but far less than a liberal arts school), but I wonder what drives that. To me, someone who takes the time to do hair and makeup is a very detail oriented person... so why couldn't they be detail oriented in their work? Is it just that we think that hour getting ready would be better spent on technical thought?

Interesting background... when I started at Draper, I was put on a set of programs of which two had incredibly attractive technical leads that are my age. One was a male, one a female. I was actually somewhat intimidated, thinking "jeez, are all of the leaders here gorgeous??". Thinking back though, I realize I never once questioned their technical ability. In getting to know both of them, the female was incredible technically skilled, and the male was one of the best leaders I have ever had. Both very quickly became my role models here at work. Though I will admit, neither one of them once discussed how long it took to get ready in the morning, or how they picked out their shoes, or how much they spent on clothes... it was all business. So I would guess there is some merit to them proving themselves technically and not discussing anything that could perceivably be related to attractiveness (ie the lipstick in the video).

Originally Posted by Katie_UPS

After reading all of this though, I now wonder what effect I have on younger girls that I see/mentor. As someone who would like to be a positive role model, I wonder if I am having a positive effect. Am I too girly? Not girly enough? Am I giving girls in engineering a bad name?

Originally Posted by Katie_UPS

I should've mentioned that I am not going to change who I am. That would be ridiculous and something I know I am not capable of. But its more of just wondering what the impact I have on my students is. Wouldn't someone want to know if they were having a negative influence/impact?

Plenty have already responded to this, but what they say is true. Though to get more into the second post... while it is good to have an awareness of other's perceptions of you, you cannot have a fear of their perceptions. I'm fairly certain I've told this story before, but in 1511's second year, I was overwhelmed when we "lost" Chairmans and won EI. I should have been excited, but the intensity of the moment got to me, so I went off in a corner (I felt as a leader, this feeling was "wrong") as tears streamed my face. Several students found and surrounded me, and many others took on a similar emotional stance. I found out later that night a student's 10yr-old brother was getting on the bus and said "see when Kim cries, the whole team cries". It blew my mind. I had no idea I had that kind of influence. And I was immediately afraid of my every action. But I then realized that I was going to learn and grow with the team, and I would NOT be perfect and controlled at every step, and that was completely ok for the students to see that. I did become more aware of the team's perceptions of me, and often used it to figure out how to motivate others, how to be more inspirational. But I still made plenty of mistakes. Role models are human. Its easier to relate to humans. Katie - all of us have so much to learn, and especially the college mentors - focus on growing yourself, and the girls you inspire will grow along with you. Continue to be aware of your surroundings and other's perceptions, but don't let them drive how you act, or what is at your core.

Originally Posted by Jessica Boucher

Your students will choose who they look up to, not the other way around. Just be yourself, be honest, and most importantly, be present. The best role models are the ones you can relate to.

Jess definitely has a way more concise way of what took me an entire paragraph!

Originally Posted by JaneYoung

In Chief Delphi, it would be great to see more women submitting white papers and designs for others to view, ask questions about, use as resource material. In FIRST, it would be great to see more women working together to knock our socks off at a Championship conference presentation. At a Regional or District level, it would be great to see more women working together, creating innovative opportunities for teams to talk and network with them. There are all sorts of opportunities for women to promote STEM initiatives, engineering experiences, and career choices. There are opportunities to network with and participate in other programs and share that information.

There have been many discussions on this already... I guess the real question is HOW do we make this happen? How do we get our female role models to strive for these Rock Star positions? I actually think a lot of what I read in the Brain Rules book may be a lot of the reasoning behind it. The question is how do we work with that, or even around that, to get more females to pursue these positions? I would love to see a study or some statistics on how many female mentors are Technical vs non-Technical. I honestly have no idea.

Also, I know there have been many discussions on the "it doesn't matter if the role model is male or female". And to some extent I agree, but then I realized, when I was seeking out a mentor here at work, I decided that I wanted to find "a female in a high position that was approachable and also had a family." While young girls may not have exactly the same thought process yet (or maybe they do unconsciously), to me, there is something different about going through motherhood that you just cannot "bond" with a guy over. Sure there are plenty of amazing dads (my dad included!), but I want to know that a woman can successfully go through childbirth, perhaps take some time off, perhaps work part time, and then still come back to be successful. I was incredibly lucky that I found exactly that woman here at Draper, and I'm certain there are others. It makes me feel relieved to know that I can actually have that kind of life. While I think stay-at-home moms are amazing, thats not what I am aiming for at the moment, so I want to see that a woman can succeed in an engineering field past that period of life. If I want role models that are good technically, or role models that are good leaders - I don't really care if they are male or female. But if I want a Role model who is the full PERSON that I want to be, well, she has to be a she! (This by no means is the case for every female - you can be incredibly successful and never be married or never have kids, but it just represents who I want to be).

This has been a very intriguing topic with a lot of great points Keep up the great discussion!