tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8626292304461574111.post5813914700415183970..comments2023-12-27T19:24:48.254-05:00Comments on Tell me why the world is weird: Feminine role models in math/science: It's not very effectiveperfectnumber628http://www.blogger.com/profile/10303683510076315803noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8626292304461574111.post-84289778268597159732012-05-06T10:01:34.143-04:002012-05-06T10:01:34.143-04:00Well said. I think one could argue that since the...Well said. I think one could argue that since there's prejudice/stigma specifically against girls, there should also be encouragement/recognition/rewards specifically for girls, in order to counter that. I don't know how that should be played out in a practical sense though- for example, I don't want any special recognition, I don't want any "here's an award for girls who do math." Because I didn't do anything special- I just realized the obvious fact that there's nothing else as interesting as math and engineering, and I never had any doubt about that.<br /><br />So yeah. In summary, I have a lot of opinions about this, but no actual solution. ;DStephhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04481769020920358063noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8626292304461574111.post-25101192702922776372012-05-05T21:09:34.357-04:002012-05-05T21:09:34.357-04:00I originally wrote this four years ago. I have sin...I originally wrote this four years ago. I have since been head mentor of an all-girl high school robotics team, but my thoughts haven't changed much:<br /><br />Bottom line: girls shouldn't have to work any harder to do what they want. That one's a fault of the guys and the attitudes. A lot of them are unintentional and subconscious. It is harder to accept a girl as "just one of the guys," so to speak.<br />On the other hand, there's a stigma amongst girls too. I really don't want to believe that girls are "naturally" disinclined toward science, technology, math, machining, or robots. However, I think if you did a survey, many more girls would call this kind of thing boring, stupid, uninteresting, or (in the case of manual work) dirty. Why is this? Society, women included, has decided that women don't like this kind of thing.<br />Until we stop talking about "woman engineers" they will always be a novelty. By that I mean that they can't be a spectacle, a statistic, or a quota. They need to do this because they want to, and we (as a whole, women and men) need to accept them because of their skills and enthusiasm, not their gender.Ed Venatorhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08906657500977145411noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8626292304461574111.post-60692820263464351952012-05-05T11:58:52.236-04:002012-05-05T11:58:52.236-04:00Cool, thanks for posting the link. My favorite pa...Cool, thanks for posting the link. My favorite part was "being treated as a student, rather than a 'girl', is very important in building confidence"- which should be obvious, but people are dumb. -_-perfectnumber628https://www.blogger.com/profile/10303683510076315803noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8626292304461574111.post-66079020737370940782012-05-05T11:33:59.101-04:002012-05-05T11:33:59.101-04:00>I've always said the "we need to get ...>I've always said the "we need to get more girls in math/science/etc" thing seemed dumb- as if there's some God-ordained magical quota. If girls want to do science, great, if not, great- people should pursue what they're interested in, and who knows how the ratios will work out.<br /><br />The idea is more like, "We should not actively discourage women in Math and Science" which is what we are currently doing. <br /><br />Here is a good post on the matter as it related to my profession (Computer Science): http://mattgemmell.com/2012/04/20/misogyny/John Cleaverhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10377168400414783574noreply@blogger.com