Girls on FIRST teams

[Erin Rapacki]

Originally Posted by LordTalps

The trick is many girls I've known don't stick out their necks a bit, to ask for help and seem a fool, for the sake of learning. So instead of learning about drive trains and programming, they go back to organizing the toolboxes or creating the marketing display that allows them to be a part of the team without any possibility of guilt, shame, humiliation or mockery. It's a subtle peer pressure, as far as I'm concerned, and I've seen too much of it.

I've witnessed that too on co-ed teams, but not so much on my all-girls teams. The only time I didn't see it on coed teams was where they were all already a close knit group of friends or if they were all starting on the same footing (rookie team). For experienced teams, maybe mentors have to let girls (and everyone on the team for that matter) know that it's ok to as questions and make mistakes. Build a comfort zone... even the most slightly crass mentor can make somebody nervous about being wrong so they stay within their comfort zone.

Also, for me... it stopped mattering that I'm a girl a long time ago. I don't get any "wow you're a girl engineer" comments. The difference I see is, as I got older, people have a higher expectation of me. I am on the same playing field so I have to step up and know what I'm talking about. I don't win design arguements because I'm a girl; its logic, negotiation, and technical proof. But, it takes experience and confidence to discuss my ideas and points with a bunch of engineers standing in a circle trying to solve a problem... and that's what FIRST girls should be getting at some level (problem solving), just to see if they actually DO have an interest in technical stuff.