Making STEM a better place for women

[JBotAlan]

People of ChiefDelphi,

On one of the teams I have mentored, I watched one of my (female) students get sufficiently creeped out by a (male) student's behavior towards her that she was physically hiding from him at the competition.

I've seen similar behavior at the college level with a handful of close friends.

I would assert that this is a major barrier to women looking to enter some (many?) STEM fields. I'm sure this is nothing new to some folks, and I'd been mulling around the issue for quite some time, but this is the first time I've considered it in the context of FIRST.

Students or mentors, would you agree/disagree with the assertion that this is widespread?

Mentors, have you seen any untoward behavior/unwanted advances on your teams/between students from multiple teams? Have you addressed it, and if so, how?

I'm pondering what I can do as a mentor to make the world a better place. I do believe that if indeed this is a larger issue, I should be doing my best to make the field less hostile towards women. But how to do that? That's a harder question.

Thoughts? I'm not expecting any quick solution/magic bullets, but a discussion can't hurt.
Jacob