Why is it that not many girls are into robotics?

[mhaake]

I joined FRC my senior year of high school (the second year of our team) and noticed something odd. I was on an all-girls team and we were very proud of where we had come in the year. We got to a younger competition and teams told us they were surprised to see an all girls team with a nice looking robot. They said straight to our faces they didn't know how well we would do tho, simply for the fact that we were all girls. After the first day of competition, we had teams coming up to us telling us it was simply luck that we were so good. As the driver of the team, I put up with countless drive teams telling me they were going to get the ball even tho they knew their robot was was less capable than ours. I listened for awhile, until I decided it was time to put the boys in their place. Saturday afternoon, we were second pick. By this time, we had teams coming up to us telling us how surprised they were that an all girls team could be so good. By the second or third match with our alliance, they knew we were the dominating robot and began to do the "Robette kiss" with us when their team was introduced (blow a wave at the camera/MC). We had all male drive teams blowing kisses.

This year I decided to be a college mentor and noticed little change. THis was noticed even after at the kickoff this year, team 2169's mentor made a speech about the season and made out team stand and told all the teams there to not underestimate the power of girls. Props to King TeC!

I think there has been some improvement on team's behalves of supporting girls; however, people will always have their stereotypes. When our team is faced with these boys, we stick it to them in the competition. However, we do it as a team. I would find it very intimidating to try to stick it to these same boys that underestimate our team if they were on my team and there were only 5 or so girls to be on my side (and im not an intimidated person - I have an older brother ....) On a slightly other note besides some boys not thinking girls can do what boys do, I've noticed some times boys think that girls are there only to flirt with. Our team gets hit on like no other when we show up at competitions and, although flirting can sometimes be a 2 way street, robotics simply isn't the place for it. Girls can feel pressured to flirt back simply to be nice to guys and I'm saying competition isn't right for that (but for more on that there is another thread about PDA that went on in Atlanta...)

One last side note that may not be 100% relevant. Our team applied for the Chairmans Award this year. We did not win and we understand why the other team that won was simply more involved. Do not get me wrong : I am not complaining that we did not win. The other team deserved it at the time more than we did. On our feedback, we were told we need more diversity and to bring more less priviledged people in the engineering world onto our team. We have 3 of 18 students that are of color on the team. Our school simply is all white (all girls Catholic school...). We were astonished to see that on our sheet since we bring 18 girls into the engineering world and if another team has 10 of the 40 girls they get extra points for having lots of girls . . . Just a side note that I thought was interesting that an all girls team was told that we were not bringing enough minorities into the engineering world (when most other groups aren't told that if they have girls on their teams.)

[Chris is me]

I have absolutely no idea why there aren't more girls in robotics, science, and engineering.

I've always been a part of teams with lots of girls on them. I was the only guy on my team for both of my years in FV/TC. Then I went and joined a team that had more guys but still several girls involved in every part of the team (so not just the "girl roles" or whatever stereotype exists that I'm nto aware of). It just seems like something that's never really been an issue for any of my teams.

I don't see what's so intristically different about science and engineering that girls would be predisposed not to do. Girls certainly aren't "worse" at robotics; I've encountered just as many good and bad all (mostly) guys teams as all girls teams. It just seems weird that there would be that stigma to begin with.

I don't really understand how specifically "all girls teams" are seen as great, however. Getting more girls into engineering is just as nice as getting more of anyone into engineering, probably even nicer as we kind of have to make up for hidden gender bias in things. I just don't see why restricting guys from joining a team accomplishes this goal any better than by just encouraging more girls to join. Why an all-girls team gets more media attention than a team that's gone above and beyond to reach a female majority has always puzzled me, since most all girls teams are from all girls schools.

I intend no disrespect to teams made up of all girls, especially teams from all girl's schools. I just think that if there exists an all girls team that turns down guys wanting to participate then they are "doing it wrong".

Oh, quick comment to the Robettes above: You guys had a really great robot in 10,000 Lakes, and you guys shouldn't have been available when you were in the picking process (you guys were in the 7th seed right? I would have pinned you guys as a 4 or 5 team). Perhaps there are more hidden biases at work?

[JaneYoung]

Originally Posted by Chris is me

I don't really understand how specifically "all girls teams" are seen as great, however.

Chris,
You have made some good points and provided food for thought.
I've narrowed your quote down to this statement, not to argue with you or to dispute the thought, but to provide an opportunity for you to gain some insight from some girls' perspectives. The girls are current members and alumnae from Falcon Robotics, FRC 842.

The thread title is, We Left The Boys At Home. There is another thread called, We Left The Boys At Home II. I'll let you find that one if you are interested in reading it as well. In this thread that I'm introducing to the discussion, several pages were written regarding opinions about why 842 chose to do what they did. It was on the last page that the girls shared their views, perspectives, and opinions. It was not easy for them and they had to find the courage to do it. That is no small thing and should not be dissed or overlooked. Posting in ChiefDelphi can be very intimidating for anyone and going about the business of creating change and opportunity, knowing that it will open one to criticism and misunderstanding, can be difficult. I'd like to direct your attention to post 77 when Mabel begins writing. Then I would like to direct you to post 84. In post 84, several of the girls post their experiences and their thoughts. It would be my preference that you read the entire thread but 77 and 84 address the quote regarding wondering why all girls teams are seen as great. In my opinion, all girls teams are not great in themselves. It is their efforts, their commitment to the program/competition, and the team development - their journey - that can help them achieve greatness, if they work hard enough. But, I do understand and value the importance of the teams. Especially after spending some time looking through the lens that 842 has provided us in this thread.

[AcesJames]

I'm not sure if this is how it is at every high school, but at ours, there are a lot of reasons why girls don't go into robotics

1. Robotics is beaten down by EVERYONE at the two schools our team comes from. It is said to suck up resources, space, and money from the schools, which it does not. Everyone says sports are way more important than FIRST, and that our team is pointless and a waste of time. The only people in our school that even know we've won the championship, are already on the team.

2. Girls at our school can only be "popular" if they wear a certain style of clothing, act a certain way, and hang out with certain people. They have to either play soccer, basketball, lacrosse, or field hockey. They have to be attractive. At our school, joining the robotics team is "social suicide".

Overall, I think one of the problems is that girls are molded, at least in our society, to become nurses, house-wives, etc. Society as a whole looks down upon girls who want to be engineers. That's why FIRST is so important. It teaches kids that engineering is cool, and it is the future. FIRST is a sport to all of us, and it's fun. We just have to show girls, and people in general, that it isn't just for nerds. Robotics and engineering as a whole is for anyone who is interested in it.

[delsaner]

It could just be that some girls have no real interest in robotics. It could be that robotics and technology doesn't interest them. We could introduce girls to the side of robotics (the side the majority of teenagers don't know about), and maybe they will grow an interest in robotics. If they don't have an interest in robotics, we shouldn't force them to grow a liking. If they like it, they like it. If not, then that is their opinion, and I respect their opinion.

[Nica F.]

I'm going to keep this very short and sweet.

Why aren't there many girls in robotics? Simple, a lot just don't know that there is more to robots than going at pieces of aluminum all day. I think a lot of people miss the point that the great thing about FIRST and robotics is that it's just as important to realize that you don't want to do engineering as to realize that you do. All girls will have their reasons, and whether its "no i don't like getting dirty" to "i don't like math and science", there are also a boatload of reasons non-engineering related that show that they can do robotics as well.