[FRC Blog] Something New - SWE Grant

[thegnat05]

Originally Posted by AdamHeard

Something along the lines of measurable attempts at progress, versus already achieving a goal (that could easily be unachievable by some of the best programs by circumstances outside their control).

I personally think that this would be a great way to determine if teams are promoting gender equality but would also be hard to measure. If you look at 2531's past members there have been very few girls on the team, maybe 4-5 total over 5 years. I was the only girl on the team my sophomore year of high school, but over the last year or so we have had almost 10 new girls join our 30 person team. This is because we have become a more active team in our school and community and because of this we have generated more members of all genders, but this is also because our head leader (myself) is a female. When people see me speaking for my team or demonstrating our robot they take notice that our team isn't just a 'boys club.' It is also very clear to the female members that they can be a leader and a valuable member of the team too. Something my team tries hard to convey is that I am not head captain just because I am female but I also wasn't overlooked because I am female. We are not 50/50 but we do our best to encourage females to join FIRST teams.

Going back to the "driver" predicament, I don't feel like this is necessarily a measure of leadership for all teams. I understand they are 'seen' the most at competition and for some teams their leaders are all on drive team but that isn't a universal leadership title. I am not on drive team at competition, my strengths lay elsewhere, but that doesn't mean I am any less of a leader. I don't really know what term could have been used instead to ensure that the team is represented by a genuine female leader.

Originally Posted by Shrub

I think that a lot of the grant should also depend on if the females in question actually feel comfortable in the environment.

Honestly, feeling comfortable is key. If teams have an environment that is overall inclusive and makes members feel comfortable then they will most likely generate more female members. Something that drew me to FIRST in general was how accepting and inclusive my team was to me. They didn't treat me any different because I was a girl and I honestly rarely noticed that I was surrounded by boys. To me, they were my teammates and I fit right in.