pic: We Left The Boys At Home II

[falconmaster]

Originally Posted by squirrel

On our team, that doesn't seem to be enough to get the girls as fully involved as the boys...and I think the same is true with 842's team. I don't know why that is the case, but it does seem to be a fact of life.

Short of giving away a report we plan on presenting later in the season....We have found that there are always teams that say that they have assertive female members. We the get postings that claim that it is not fair. Girls should step up and do what guys do. From my observations, girls and guys are not the same. They are different and it takes a different approach to get girls take on the roles that they might want to but feel that they are not "entitled" to. So they say that they want to do the scrap book or the scouting. If however you make all the positions available then they don't have the fear of displacing or having to compete against a guy. We see that that the girls that have stepped forward in a coed team quickly withdraw to the stereotype roles when they make an error or screw up. They go back to their comfort zones because its comfortable and the don't have to challenge guys for them. When we give the girls the unfettered time to experience guy roles they do improve and the fact that our team made it to the semifinals in LA shows it works. To posters that say that we should do a leave the girls at home version...that is what most teams are doing all the time. We even do it as well. The guys compete fiercely for those roles, and we tend to role back to standard team roles. We are however giving the girls a chance to develop and challenge the guys for the traditionally male dominated roles. Normally we put the best people, regardless of sex, in the roles they best perform in. We are merely trying to provide a training ground where the girls can have an opportunity to bloom like the guys do. How does a girl know if they can drive in a competition under pressure unless she tries it. Driving in practice is not the same. We have the luxury to do this by having three regionals and one nationals to compete in. We have had many team discussions and while it may not seem possible our guys are all very supportive of the girls and fully agree to allow them to experience the FIRST experience in all its forms. They feel that the girls too can then appreciate what the "guys go through". We also feel that it makes our team stronger, you are only as strong as your weakest member. Squirrel said it best, its a fact of life.