Are all girl FIRST team counterproductive to the philosophy of FIRST?

[Molten]

Every time people speak of gender roles and equality, they make mentions of the way men and women think differently. Some can try and state one is smarter or better, but I've yet to see any proof to that extent. I have, however heard of study after study that proves we think differently. These differences mean that we aren't the same. We can be equal, but not truly the same. Each job requires a specific skill set and style of thinking/acting in order to do well. If we think differently depending upon our gender, wouldn't it only make sense that some fields would be made up of mostly men while others be made up of mostly women? I don't believe that its simply cut and dry, boys are good at this and girls are good at that. Some of us think differently then our gender would dictate. I'm perhaps the least hands-on engineering student I know. I don't like working with cars or even care how they work. I like the design side of engineering. I know girls in my classes that are very hands on that I'd gladly ask to change a tire or check any other car problem if I needed it. That said, there is a general variation between the sexes. It would seem that engineering fields tend to align with the men's thinking processes so it really wouldn't make sense for engineering to be a perfect 50-50 split. Should it be 60-40? 70-30? 80-20? or should we even really say? I find the problem with mindless feminism* is that it isn't actually feminism at all. I treat girls the way I'd treat a guy(besides some basic chivalry acts). If a FIRST team is all-female due to being an all-girls school or the sort, that is fine. I understand this and have no issues with it. However, I have noticed a few stating that nobody is hurt in situations when girls choose to be on their own team if there are enough in the area. I disagree. I think all sexists need to be put in their place every once in a while. If the girls simply avoid the problem, the problem doesn't go away. The boys will probably just become more stereotyping. Even seeing an all-girls team do well at competition allows them to see girls do well once. Seeing girls on their team taking on leadership roles and doing technical work allows them to see girls do well for weeks. The girls are also going to learn they can do well at the cost of learning to assert themselves. In short, there are definite benefits to having some all-girls teams. It allows them to see how good they are while not getting pushed around. However, this is not an ideal solution. There should be a way of helping the girls without segregating.

To summarize my thoughts, there isn't going to be an 50-50 distribution for most fields due to inherent differences of gender. This does not say we are not equal, but it does suggest we should stop pushing for a 50-50 distribution and just ensure that anyone that wants into the field is allowed and welcome.This means not only that they are allowed on the team but that they are not discriminated against. This discrimination includes any act that treats them differently then any other member of the team. As long as we can guarantee that all are allowed and welcome, we really shouldn't be placing our own bias on how many of which gender we believe should be on the team.

I apologize for this lengthy post after not posting for a while. I hope it was all worth reading.

Jason

*I specifically said mindless feminism. By that, I refer to those that suggest anything that pushes for "equality" without thinking about the actual word equal.