Why is it that not many girls are into robotics?

[ebarker]

Originally Posted by Erin Rapacki

I think it’s a combination of the attitudes of the mentors and current students on the team. A team who already has females on it may do better at attracting more, a team with only guys (but guys who encourage females to take a leadership role) may do well at recruiting, but a team with only guys where girls don't even register on their radar as being technically competent will not do well at attracting them. All teams should recognize girls as having the potential of being technically competent enough to have a leadership position. The team should also have a means of teaching those skills (through pre season projects, etc...). The robot education people here at UML have noticed that it takes more hand holding and a longer period of time to get the ball rolling on a girl's interest in robotics and sci/tech, but once they become interested, they go deeper into it, become very skilled, and remain interested (I witnessed this on an all-girls FIRST rookie team as well.)

Good stuff here. This is right on.

If you want young women on the team, you have to plan and prepare for it. They need to feel welcome and valued by mentors and current members. And they need to be allowed to get hands on so that they will gain the experience, skill, and confidence needed. The culture of the team has to encourage participation and make opportunities exist for this growth to occur.