Growing Geeky Girls

I think there is something in every parent that would like to see their kids follow their footsteps.  Not only would you be able to provide some warnings about what not to do, but it would also provide an opportunity to bond and build another facet of your relationship as a mentor. On the other hand, I’ve got mixed feelings about pushing a STEM on my daughters. I don’t think it’s for everyone. There are parts of engineering that are super tedious & intense, but it is interesting, challenging and the pay is decent. So- I think my position is that I won’t be disappointed if they don’t become engineers, but I’ve accepted my responsibility to make sure that it’s an option if they decide to pursue it.   

The question becomes- what’s the best way to introduce the world of engineering to them? Bringing trinkets from industry trade shows probably won’t do it. Over the years I’ve seen a lot of chatter about initiatives to get more women into STEM fields. I’ve seen of companies sponsor at all-female robotic teams and heard lots of theories why engineering and computer science are still predominantly male.  I don’t know enough to comment on the theories of “why”, but my larger issue is that I haven’t really seen any robust solutions.  All the activity seems to be token nods to the problem without any significant progress.  

So I started asking every technical professional female I could- why did they pick science/ math/ engineering/ computer fields? Most couldn’t give me an exact reason. To be fair- most male engineers couldn’t articulate it either (I’d imagine it’s because the question embodies two of the engineer’s stereotypical short-comings: exploring our emotions & communicating). The antidotal trends I noticed, and I’d love to research further, were:

 (1) they usually had a dad that was handy and involved them in fixing things.  

 (2) they usually played a competitive, contact high school sport.

 (3) many had an experience of someone telling them they couldn’t do it. 

While a study on those would be interesting- here’s what I think is the issue: lack of male engagement.  I coach sports (AYSO soccer and lacrosse) for my boys and my girls. Generally, there are always plenty of coaches (and assistant coaches) for the boy teams, while the girl teams are generally lacking. I don’t think this is malicious. I think there are multiple issues. For one, it was certainly more natural and comfortable for me to coach my boys.  Ironically though, I got a lot more satisfaction and on-field success coaching my daughters.  I also noticed a correlation between fathers participating as volunteers (coaches, assistant coaches, refs or admin) and the girls who continued interest and engagement in the sport (even when factoring out the player’s ability and achievement). 

(this was a scrappy team that I got to coach that ended up doing really well)

BUT how does I translate that into following dad’s career footsteps? I would say very poorly. Both the boys and girls of the engineers I surveyed generally chose other career paths than their father or mother. I noticed the same regarding doctors (doctors’ kids have a lower percentage of becoming a doctor than non-doctor kids).  Do our kids think we have miserable jobs? Is this an example of birth-order theory (finding an unoccupied niche within a social group)? Does the grass seem more attractive in other pastures?           

Anyway, it’s clear that I’m unsure of a solution set. Here’s what I’m going to test (even though it seems odd that I am turning my daughters into experimental subjects). First, I need to be a good ambassador for engineering. I can’t be Mr. Grumpypants about my job.  For example, I’m going to stop complaining about debugging the embedded barcode reader that we are providing to our client and start telling the story about how the end product of the medical device will save lives.

(this is a scanner my company makes that is used to capture barcodes on medical samples for analysis. Check out more at www.diamondt.com)

I’m going to try and mix stuff that I like to do with what I think they might enjoy (like solder LED earrings). That’s where I need get them excited about being makers and creators (and hopefully lower the intimidation factor).

I’m going to take them backpacking, to the mall and watch sci-fi movies with them (if any good ones come up- Hollywood needs to get their act together).  

(took the neighborhood kids along with my girls on this one. It’s so much easier to have campfires and hot dogs skewered with sharp sticks without moms around.)

My wife has helped by supporting doing year-round math, and my daughters are all in the top of their class in that subject (so it’s become a bit of a lifestyle).   We’re starting to play chess (I completely recommend FunMasterMike @ www.chesskid.com). 

I know, I know… someone is going to say that I’m not running a legitimate experiment unless I only change one variable. But I’m at the point where I don’t care about my “Design of Experiment” grade in this particular instance.  It’s an ongoing experiment that will last a minimum of another 5 years, and I up for changing direction if I get new information.  If you have any insights or theories that you’d like to share, please let me know.   

#Disney #girlsinstem #Womeninengineering #starwars #technology #engineering