I am serious about this. Why dont they?
I know plenty of girls in robotics…Sure, there aren’t nearly enough, but there are a lot. Maybe it’s because for the longest time engineering (like many other fields) has been seen as one that girls aren’t supposed to be in. Lately, however, that is being changed and more and more girls are joining 
Give it time, I’m sure plenty of girls will be in FIRST sooner or later, it just needs to catch on.
Have to agree with you not many girls find engineering as a field that they might be interested in. look at it though it seems that as the years go by more and more girls are starting to join FIRST :yikes:
ok. that really needs to change… :ahh:
It’s because for many years girls were conditoned not to seek work that was deemed only for men and many still think that way. That’s what FIRST is for to encourage people who do not traditionally seekto participate in robotics to join up and realize that it’s for everybody.
i really don’t know why
but we have 4 girls
me: build and coach
girl 2: build
girl 3: inventor
girl 4 media
I like to take thing apart and a lot of girls like to gossip.
Yeah i love to gossip but i like to take thing apart MORE!!
this is also why women such as Carly Fiorina, the ex CEO and Chairwomen of HP, and the only woman ever to head up a Dow Jones Listed company are such popular speakers and role models to women entering the business and hopefully the engineering world. But yeah, its a stereotype that has carried over from thousands of years of women being oppressed.
i’ve gotta agree with everything everyone before me has said.
thats why we’ve got the Robotics Chicks Union (RCU), in order to promote more women being involved with FIRST robotics.
every year i try to get more and more of my girl friends to join robotics, simply because its so much fun and i love it to death. there is so much FIRST teaches everyone–not just girls or minorities or majorities or whoever–and people shouldnt be left out just because of previous steryotypes.
but all in all… yeah, this sport is dominated by waaaaaay tooo many guys… we girls need to change that
Ok first off Usually there are about 2 girls and 5 guys t meetings all the girls that come to meetings on our teem are very helpfull. Really we have a lot of girls about 5 come to meetings which is abou tthe number of boys that cometo meetings. Usually I go to every meeting even if its just me and a co-captain. Today me and a co-captain worked and that was it not and official meeting but only about 5 underlings ever show up and there the same people every time. Me I am always ther meeting or private work.
Well… as several other people mentioned, it’s mostly the stereotype issue. I think a lot of it has to do with how girls in our generation grew up. Just about all of my girl friends grew up as “girly-girls” playing with Barbies because that’s what people expected them to play with. Meanwhile, most boys played with Legos and trucks. A majority of these girls stick with the girly stereotype; only with a lot of encouragement and a bit of instruction do they break out of that shell and get involved in something like robotics
I think the other reason for the small amount of female FIRSTers is that they usually feel overshadowed… because we usually grow up as "girly-girl"s, most of us don’t have much experience and don’t have the confidence to step in and ask for help… especially when one of our male classmates is standing there acting like they know everything and you’re stupid for not knowing it… (high school and jr. high guys act like they know wayyyy more than they do :rolleyes: )
anywhooo… I didn’t really mean to make my post so long, I just got started and couldn’t stop… :rolleyes: Hopefully more girls will discover the joys of robotics and learn to jump in and get involved!!
Our second FIRST year we had three girls. One of them was an exchange student from Italy who knew her way around a shop better than any of the boys
Wayne Doenges
CAD Mentor
We are also a second year team and this year we have a total of 7 girls on our team, mostly because one of our members from last year encouraged all her friends to join. Their attendance is also fairly strong, really only missing because of conflicting jobs, activities, and/or homework assignments.
I’ve been trying to get my g/f involved but have been unsuccessfull as of yet. Both of us participated in science bowl and the corresponding miniature solar car competition in middle school, and she seemed to be interested in that. The main problem is that she seems to have the same mindset as many other non-FIRST people that I talk to around school, basically that you half to be some sort of genious or something in order to be capable of building a robot, and this is certianly not the case.
I think one of the main points of FIRST is to be able to gain knowledge from experience. Our school has absolutely no industrial arts whatsoever, so starting a FIRST team has given many of my friends and I something we can really get involved in, enjoy, and learn from. Its amazing some of the things that people just don’t get the chance to learn without opportunities like FIRST - Things many of us would take for grated and would consider “common knowledge” things - like what a nylon locking nut is, what ‘fluid power’ means, and basic electronics - like how to crimp and solder wires.
I’m going to continue to encourage my girlfriend to join - who knows, maybe next year i can get her on the team. She is going to come and see the local regional so i’m hoping that will help her to see more of what it is and encourage her to become a part of it. I think a big part of her problem is that she dosen’t see where she could really fit in and be invloved on the team, since she’s not particularly experienced with mechanical things or into programming and software - but really all it takes is an interest and a willingness to learn.
Anyways, thats my couple of cents - i’m gonna keep trying to talk my g/f into it, until then she’s missin out!
Jeff
One requirement that our team has for all students is to participate in building the robot for at least one year so we don’t automatically assign girls to the PAW room. This is so students get the full FIRST experince. We pay for it on the field but we don’t just build robots, we build people so it all pays out in the end.
yes there is still a lack of girls in FIRST… some may get discouraged because on some teams i know the guys don’t let the girls do things because they are girls. and well yes that’s why we have the RCU and i am the captain of the Southern Florida Chapter and i hope that more girls will join the chapter and union and FIRST in general.
I wouldn’t say that there’s a lack of girls in FIRST. I attended a meeting with Paul Shay a month ago and he reported that 30% of FIRST students were female. Indeed, he hopes for 50%, but lets stop there. Don’t let FIRST turn into industry where there is reverse discrimination for the Caucasian male (they are people with feelings too).
If women wanted true equality we wouldn’t need a special club to achieve it. Being a minority is not an excuse for obtaining extra attention. Everybody in general should go out, get educated, try new things, test themselves, and they’ll be certain that they were hired for their ability and not because they have met a quota for a team or company. There shouldn’t be any handouts. The idea of fighting discrimination is to give the most qualified person the job no matter of race, color, or gender. That concept has been achieved; however, the scale has been tipped too far in the opposite direction (this is highly noticeable when entering college and/or looking for jobs).
Do any FIRST teams deny access for students of non-minority groups? I certainly hope not. FIRST is about inspiring High School Students, not girls and minorities exclusively. Teams should have open arms to any student who wishes to join and there are plenty of girls who do find their way onto a team. In general, I believe that high school is too late to get girls interested in science and technology unless they have some kind of lingering desire already inside them. If we wanted more girls who were really into building robots, we’d have to find a way to start young. It would seriously have to be a cultural infusion, which won’t happen easily. So, lets stop trying to use cunning to trick every girl into wanting to build robots and just make sure that every student at the school, town, or general area know that they have an option to join a FIRST team with open arms. A brilliant mind is a brilliant mind, and it doesn’t matter what race or gender has the ability to make a positive difference in this world. We need each and every one of them to contribute to society no matter how the percentages break down.
My basic point being: some people (not all, I do know many smart women & minorities who do fantastically well in school and work) take advantage of affirmative action instead of going out and educating themselves. In some situations it has gotten out of hand.
erin
p.s. CEO and Chairman of HP, Carly Fiorina, was ousted last week.
http://money.cnn.com/2005/02/15/technology/fiorina.reut/index.htm?cnn=yes
I would join a FIRST team, but there aren’t any close enough to where I live. I love robotics (I’m in Technology Lab 2, which encompasses all types of technology such as: robotics, CAD, CNC, Plastics, etc.). I would love to start a team at my school, but I’m in my last semester of high school. How long does it take to start a team and what types of materials would we need? (There’s only one other girl in my class and we have the highest grades!!! 
)
Are you looking to go to a college/university? Maybe decide on a school that already has a team.
It takes at least six months to start a team. You’d have to start looking for sponsorship and have that fee secured by the time team registration ends in fall. You’d need a space to work, a high school to team up with, tools, and that’s just the beginning! www.usfirst.org would have more information. However, when starting college, joining up with a team that already exists may be a little more promising when it comes to the ever-so-important issue of keeping your grades up.
We have 2 girls on our team - CAD and Mechanical
Lucky for us, we have seen a 100% growth in girl members this year.