Girls are still undermined?

[nehalita]

It was brought to my attention that, although many teams have let us "chicks" do the same things the males do, not all teams have changed.

Of course, I cannot point fingers. I have heard more than one story and invite anyone who has a story to share. My purpose in bringing up this thread is NOT to point fingers, it is to bring up the fact that it still happens.

Some girls are still told to go do something "spirit-like" or perhaps loaded with "clerical work" or maybe just pushed away from the mechanical aspects of robotics.

I think it's important to promote the integrated environment where there are no comments suggesting a hierarchy. It's our duty to promote this and make sure we don't know anyone that let's people get away with comments such as "why don't you think of what colors to paint our robot?" or "why don't you advertise for our robot?" -- Many comments are said in jest but there is a line between joking around and limiting girls to what they can do.

I would like to point out that I have seen MANY teams where this isn't a problem at all. Girls are encouraged just as much as boys are and there is a respect between each of them.

But unfortunately, as I mentioned, all the teams aren't like this yet. We all have some speaking up to do, whether it is for ourselves or for our peers. If you know someone who's had to deal with this, please, try to address the problem so it doesn't happen.

What do you think?