Encouraging Girls into STEM fields

blakfyahking
blakfyahking Members Posts: 15,785 ✭✭✭✭✭
Ladies, should we push girls to study STEM (science, technology, engineering, mathematics) to address the obvious lack of gender equality in those fields?

Do you see this as a relevant issue for young girls?

If so, how do we get younger girls/college age women to want to get into STEM?




/real thread seriously
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Comments

  • Kat
    Kat Members Posts: 50,667 ✭✭✭✭✭
    I know alot of companies like ExxonMobil and even my current employer hold various workshops at local schools to encourage interest in these fields. They ask for volunteers within the company, and even hold a couple a year that target young females specifically.

    Isn't it proven that men tend to excel in these areas though?
  • blakfyahking
    blakfyahking Members Posts: 15,785 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Kat wrote: »
    I know alot of companies like ExxonMobil and even my current employer hold various workshops at local schools to encourage interest in these fields. They ask for volunteers within the company, and even hold a couple a year that target young females specifically.

    Isn't it proven that men tend to excel in these areas though?

    not necessarily

    studies have shown that girls are not catered to in these fields which leads to a later gender gap

    boys are pretty much encouraged from an early age cause of stereotypes of what is masculine/feminine work

    meanwhile girls are ignored when it comes to the things that bring boys into the field

    something as simple as videogames have had an impact on the gender gap in fields such as computer science

  • LUClEN
    LUClEN Members Posts: 20,559 ✭✭✭✭✭
    I'm not fond of pushing anybody into anything. We should not discourage anyone from following their dreams but let women make their own decisions. Pushing them into STEM is as bad as forcing them into arts disciplines.
  • Ajackson17
    Ajackson17 Members Posts: 22,501 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Women need to be pushed towards these careers and shown on why these careers are great,
  • blakfyahking
    blakfyahking Members Posts: 15,785 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited February 2014
    SMH @ IC females being more concerned about hair and vain superficial ?

    instead of caring about the future for young girls out here




    here's an article that basically says we want our daughters to grow up to be birds :(

    http://www.forbes.com/sites/work-in-progress/2012/06/20/stem-fields-and-the-gender-gap-where-are-the-women/
  • Meta_Conscious
    Meta_Conscious Members Posts: 26,227 ✭✭✭✭✭
    all blacks should be pushed in this direction...
  • StillFaggyAF
    StillFaggyAF Members Posts: 40,358 ✭✭✭✭✭
    i wish i was good at STEM subjects
  • FatterThanKat
    FatterThanKat Members Posts: 677
    i wish i was good at STEM subjects

    Wishing won't make it happen
  • StillFaggyAF
    StillFaggyAF Members Posts: 40,358 ✭✭✭✭✭
    i wish i was good at STEM subjects

    Wishing won't make it happen

    ok
  • atribecalledgabi
    atribecalledgabi Members, Moderators Posts: 14,063 Regulator
    edited February 2014
    i had to watch a documentary in one of my classes about how the under representation of women in pretty much every aspect of society is detrimental...somebody (i think it was condeleeza rice) said "you can't emulate what you don't see."

    i don't even think it's necessarily that we don't push girls into STEM fields at this point, it's that there's barely any prominent women that get shown so girls don't even think it's a viable option. it's why girls don't really aspire to be politicians/POTUS, filmmakers, CEOs or any other "boy's club" type of occupations anymore either because there are so few examples to follow.
  • Kat
    Kat Members Posts: 50,667 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Kat wrote: »
    I know alot of companies like ExxonMobil and even my current employer hold various workshops at local schools to encourage interest in these fields. They ask for volunteers within the company, and even hold a couple a year that target young females specifically.

    Isn't it proven that men tend to excel in these areas though?

    not necessarily

    studies have shown that girls are not catered to in these fields which leads to a later gender gap

    boys are pretty much encouraged from an early age cause of stereotypes of what is masculine/feminine work

    meanwhile girls are ignored when it comes to the things that bring boys into the field

    something as simple as videogames have had an impact on the gender gap in fields such as computer science

    Are they encouraged more or are more boys just naturally interested in these subjects?

    Personally speaking..I have no interest in those fields because it's not my passion.

    I feel like more women are probably drawn to social or artistic fields, and that comes naturally for them.

    Not saying that this goes for all women, but if we had to generalize.
  • StillFaggyAF
    StillFaggyAF Members Posts: 40,358 ✭✭✭✭✭
    ajackcoon get off my ? ill stone you u ?
  • FatterThanKat
    FatterThanKat Members Posts: 677
    ZeePhoenix wrote: »
    i wish i was good at STEM subjects

    You don't need to be 'good' at them.

    I'm not sure this is good advice. People should be required to be good at math and science in order to make careers out of them. I don't want my scientists and engineers to be incompetent.
  • BrideofKilla
    BrideofKilla Guests, Members, Writer, Content Producer Posts: 4,566 ✭✭✭✭✭
    I don't think there's anything wrong with encouraging stem subjects for the girls that show an interest.

    But I also think trying to influence what they become is ridiculous. Similar to putting a football in a boy's hands and thinking he's gonna be an athlete.

    When they get old enough to make their own decisions, they'll choose what they like. More than likely it won't be what the parent wants.

    I think whatever sparks their interest should be developed. Of course stem subjects would be beneficial and progressive for young women. But I would want my child to follow her dreams and be the best at whatever she chose to do.
  • Kat
    Kat Members Posts: 50,667 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Well said bride.

    A genuine passion is how true stars are born.
  •   Colin$mackabi$h
    Colin$mackabi$h Members Posts: 16,586 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Shoulda, woulda, coulda.
  • FatterThanKat
    FatterThanKat Members Posts: 677
    edited February 2014
    ZeePhoenix wrote: »
    Following your dreams is one thing.


    Being successful is another.


    If I ever have a kid that I catch singing into a hair brush wanting to be Beyonce i'll throw a textbook at her.

    Lol

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tZ7Y1-0bNeQ

    What do you desire? What makes you itch? What sort of a situation would you like?

    Let’s suppose, I do this often in vocational guidance of students, they come to me and say, well, "we’re getting out of college and we have the faintest idea what we want to do". So I always ask the question, "what would you like to do if money were no object? How would you really enjoy spending your life?"

    Well, it’s so amazing as a result of our kind of educational system, crowds of students say well, we’d like to be painters, we’d like to be poets, we’d like to be writers, but as everybody knows you can’t earn any money that way. Or another person says well, I’d like to live an out-of-doors life and ride horses. I said you want to teach in a riding school? Let’s go through with it. What do you want to do?

    When we finally got down to something, which the individual says he really wants to do, I will say to him, you do that and forget the money, because, if you say that getting the money is the most important thing, you will spend your life completely wasting your time. You’ll be doing things you don’t like doing in order to go on living, that is to go on doing things you don’t like doing, which is stupid. Better to have a short life that is full of what you like doing than a long life spent in a miserable way.

    And after all, if you do really like what you’re doing, it doesn’t matter what it is, you can eventually turn it – you could eventually become a master of it. It’s the only way to become a master of something, to be really with it. And then you’ll be able to get a good fee for whatever it is. So don’t worry too much.

    That’s everybody is – somebody is interested in everything, anything you can be interested in, you will find others will. But it’s absolutely stupid to spend your time doing things you don’t like, in order to go on spending things you don’t like, doing things you don’t like and to teach our children to follow in the same track.

    See what we are doing, is we’re bringing up children and educating to live the same sort of lifes we are living. In order that they may justify themselves and find satisfaction in life by bringing up their children to bring up their children to do the same thing, so it’s all retch, and no ? it never gets there.

    And so, therefore, it’s so important
    to consider this question: What do I desire?
  • BrideofKilla
    BrideofKilla Guests, Members, Writer, Content Producer Posts: 4,566 ✭✭✭✭✭
    ZeePhoenix wrote: »
    Following your dreams is one thing.


    Being successful is another.


    If I ever have a kid that I catch singing into a hair brush wanting to be Beyonce i'll throw a textbook at her.

    Lol

    ? , it depends on how well she's singing, lol
  • Meta_Conscious
    Meta_Conscious Members Posts: 26,227 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Kids do what they are told to do more times than not, the exception ain't the rule.
  • Kat
    Kat Members Posts: 50,667 ✭✭✭✭✭
    ZeePhoenix wrote: »
    Following your dreams is one thing.


    Being successful is another.


    If I ever have a kid that I catch singing into a hair brush wanting to be Beyonce i'll throw a textbook at her.

    Lol

    Because Beyonce isn't successful?
  • Kat
    Kat Members Posts: 50,667 ✭✭✭✭✭
    I get your point, and I don't completely disagree with you, but on the other hand what would have happened if Beyonce's parents had had a similar frame of mind?

    What about Michael Jordan or Meryl Streep's parents?

    What about anybody that has a lucrative career outside of the STEM fields?

    Everybody has their own talents that should be recognized and cultivated into something even greater.

    The last thing I would want for my child is to be pushed into a field that she has no passion for just because it's a money maker or the 'right' thing to do.

    Do what you LOVE..if that falls within the STEM fields, awesome..those are the kids that will be the true talents. But it's okay if it doesn't too.

    Life is too short imo.
  • powerman 5000
    powerman 5000 Members Posts: 3,084 ✭✭✭✭✭
    i'm fighting this battle right now....

    As a person with a BS in Math amd Computer Science and MS in Comp Sci, you should not push them into STEM fields. Either they fit or they don't.



  • SixSickSins
    SixSickSins Members Posts: 8,134 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Yes, I wrote a research paper on this last term, as I also dabble in a stem field. The paper focused on the gender gap in computer science and I was able to cite several interesting studies to substantiate my claims as to why this phenomenon exists. When I get to my laptop I'll try to paste some excerpts. Zee is correct in this thread. Best thread you've ever authored @blakfyahking ٩(๑❛▽❛๑)۶
  • StillFaggyAF
    StillFaggyAF Members Posts: 40,358 ✭✭✭✭✭
    ZeePhoenix wrote: »
    i wish i was good at STEM subjects

    You don't need to be 'good' at them.

    You just need to learn about them (not even all of them, just one), once youve developed an understanding, you're on your way.

    if i have kids i'll try to push them in that direction
  • zombie
    zombie Members Posts: 13,450 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Just let people get in where they fit in