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#16
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Re: Gender Equality: A Work in Progress
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*I have not read this study in its entirety, so there may be gaping holes that I am unaware of. I would love to find out this study is flawed and teachers are not unintentionally biased against girls. **Yes, I am aware this is a comic and not a study Quote:
and yes, these are all real examples Quote:
Chris ODonnell already made some awesome points about this. I'm going to add some of my own incite: I was lucky enough to be pushed enough and stubborn enough to get into the shop on my team. There was another girl older than me who was less pushed/stubborn and didn't get to work in the shop despite wanting to. For a period of time, I thought that everyone should be as headstrong (and lucky) as me if they wanted to work in the shop and it was their fault if they weren't. I was wrong. I had an older brother on the team who was a large part of that push. I was more outgoing, therefor more likely to ask for jobs. I had just the right set of factors that got me where I was, and many of them were not things in my control. Believe it or not, girls are taught to be meek and quiet. We are called "stubborn" or "bossy" when boys would be called "headstrong" and "leaders" for the same actions. We are taught to be one way and insulted when we act against it, but its still our fault if what we were taught prevents us from doing something, such as the engineering side of things. Your team is not every team, and honestly it sounds like your team is an awesome place to be a girl. Its great to hear about a place where girls are thriving and the environment is not hostile/toxic. I'm interested in what your team is doing because you appear to be doing it right. To respond to OP: In my experience, it is the whole team's job to ensure that every aspect of the team is a welcoming environment for everyone. Girls should be encouraged to try welding, boys should be encouraged to try photography. Its highly unlikely that students on a team know what is involved in/have tried all the various aspects of a robotics team and so would be unqualified to know what they do and don't like. For this reason, I encourage the use on hands-on experience with pre-season workshops or during the season. Last edited by Katie_UPS : 23-03-2015 at 14:57. |
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#17
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Re: Gender Equality: A Work in Progress
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Edit: This is why I mentioned the importance of the attitude and approach of mentors/leadership/authority figures in my first post in this thread. The culture established and supported by an organization's leadership plays a big role in whether women (and minorities) are welcomed and can thrive, or are discouraged and pushed away. Last edited by smurfgirl : 23-03-2015 at 17:35. |
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#18
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Re: Gender Equality: A Work in Progress
There are many things that can encourage or discourage anyone to participate in any given activity, and the same is true for girls in FRC. Since everyone will be attracted (or turned away) for different reasons, it's hard to list anything specific that will help everyone. But two things that I have noted in terms of ways girls seemed to be turned away:
I'm probably in the minority here, but I've never had any issues with being a girl in any STEM classes with mostly boys. I haven't felt judged or discouraged because of it, and sometimes almost feel like the boys in those classes are less judging then the girls are. My main issue is the second one, which I've experienced multiple times with STEM activities aimed at girls (outside of robotics) when I did them many years ago. In an ideal world, everyone would be shown every subject and could pick their favorite without pressure from anyone to do one over another. That might result in a 50/50 split, or it may not. Since that is a very distant goal, my recommendations to any team trying to make members of any gender (or race, economic background, education, etc.) feel welcome are:
In summary: make your team open, encourage those that need it, but don't do it in a way that implies they're incapable of equally good work as other members. |
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#19
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Re: Gender Equality: A Work in Progress
I could go on for pages and pages on this subject but will only state 2 things.
"Respect" Male, female, mentor, student Must respect each other. Respect is something that must be the foundation of a team. It is not something that just happens, it takes work. At this age, 9th to 12th, the girls must learn how to play with the boys and more importantly the boys must learn how to play with the girls. This is hard and mentor involvement and interaction can really help them deal with this. The worst mistake I made in mentoring was in 2003 when I put the 5 girls on the team into a group on a design build project. It was a disaster. I still feel bad for them. I created the exclusion. Now I strive to break up the natural tendency to for clicks of mono-sex. I strive to keep things mix up and not to let the clicks form. It's hard but once the barriers are broken down it's amazing to watch them perform and grow as a team. A little respect and practice playing together. I don't care what sex race or culture some one is as long as they want to play robots with me. |
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#20
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Re: Gender Equality: A Work in Progress
I have been a part of the FIRST Robotics community since I was in fourth grade and this year I will be participating in 5th year of FRC as a junior in high school. Robotics has proven to be a place for me to find comfort and fun regardless of my gender, but it isn't always easy.
For me, the biggest support to stay with the team and engineering has been the older female students taking me under their wing and pushing me to do my best. Now that I have been a part of this community for a couple of years, I'm trying to do that for future female engineers. Each girl (and boy) should have a mentor or returning student to turn to. I encourage everyone to find someone to become a mentor for and listen to all of their opinions. |
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#21
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#22
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There are many great points listed here. I have a slightly different perspective... as a male mentor on a very small (~12) all girls frc team I see things similar and differently. In the absence of boys we still have some 'timid' girls in terms of the shop equipment, but they are all trained and strongly encouraged to use it. In terms of design concepts, using cad, math etc, they are all very willing to share ideas, opinions and use the engineering tools. The biggest hurdle we are still trying to overcome is the interactions at competition. We have actually been told by a judge that highlighting 'all girls' is hurting our chances for an award. Attempts to talk strategy with alliance members often are a no win situation: be told to do something you are not capable of doing and 1) fail trying which hurts the alliance or 2) speak up to explain your position and be shunned for being obstinate or moody or not a team player or just plain a b#&+@.
There are certainly exceptions, but for the most part larger cultural changes are required for improvements. Posts like this can be the beginning of a grass roots movement that reaches lots of our young STEM up and comers. Best of luck in the last few weeks of competition. |
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#23
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Re: Gender Equality: A Work in Progress
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#24
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Re: Gender Equality: A Work in Progress
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Have you ever thought that maybe that's what she is comfortable doing. Perhaps her tendency to be a perfectionist is what is keeping her back from asking to help with the robot. She may be afraid to mess it up. When I first started on my team as a student, I had the opportunity to drive the robot. That act promptly broke something on it. I immediately felt awful, thinking I had done something wrong. What helped to shape the rest of my FRC career was one mentor telling me, non sarcastically, "Nice job. Better to break something here than on the field at competition. Now we know what to fix..." and then inviting me over to see what we could do about it. I, too, was a student who liked a clean shop and would clean around the robot. It was my way of seeing, from a safe distance, what others were doing, learning about tools, and becoming comfortable in the shop. Now I still prefer to write (heck, I'm an English teacher), but I'm just as capable and comfortable with tools as many of my male counterpart mentors, and I am more capable at strategy than most of them. Thanks 33, for pushing me outside the box of "Girls like writing and cleanliness." |
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#25
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#26
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Re: Gender Equality: A Work in Progress
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Every team meeting, ask her to help with a specific robot-related activity. Keeping it specific, while asking her questions about what she thinks regarding design and strategy questions will encourage her to push herself. Also, encourage her teammates to clean up after themselves. |
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#27
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Re: Gender Equality: A Work in Progress
Just ask her to help, invite her to help you do something. There's a really shy kid on my team who's not good at asserting himself (I'm the same way, to an extent) and just inviting them to help you test this thing or teaching them how to do another thing can go a long way.
Last edited by planetbrilliant : 24-03-2015 at 12:16. Reason: deleted a sentence |
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#28
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Re: Gender Equality: A Work in Progress
At the Shorewood district event in Washington there was a young lady from The IRS (1318) that gave a brief pitch about how teams should strive for gender equality in student leadership and on drive teams. Futhermore, if your team didn't have women in those roles, and you wanted one, you should do so and be an example for those coming after you. I'm not sure if the video was archived, but it was awesome!
More regions should host the equivalent of Girls Gen... That is the most inspirational FIRST event I've ever attended, and you can really see the confidence boost at work. Last edited by Ian Curtis : 24-03-2015 at 15:20. Reason: Fixed epic run on sentence. |
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#29
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Re: Gender Equality: A Work in Progress
I'm too late to edit my previous post, but I just happened upon a relevant article on the biases pushing women out of STEM. It also discusses some differences in the experiences of women of different races. It's worth a read. Being aware of the existing biases means you can fight back against them and help to change the culture.
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#30
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Re: Gender Equality: A Work in Progress
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Personally I think this is the most disrespectful thing you can ever say. I hope that you personally apologize to every leader and powerhouse female that has read this post and has ever been involved in your program. Last edited by Patrick Flynn : 24-03-2015 at 19:31. Reason: Grammer |
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