Hey everyone... I know it's been a hot minute since I've last blogged. Sorry about that. The end of 2015 and all of 2016 was quite the busy year. Lots of life changes and family happenings. And in addition to all of that, I've been hard at work planning a regional conference for the Society of Women Engineers (SWE) which is in 3 days! EEK!
And oddly enough my awesome news has something to do with SWE. I love happy coincidences!
All right I'll stop stalling. The big news...
My sci fi short story Arch Nemesis about a girl trying to thwart her arch nemesis who has a secret lab underneath the St. Louis Arch is going to be PUBLISHED! My story will be included with a whole bunch of awesome other stories in an anthology titled BRAVE NEW GIRLS: Stories of Girls who Science and Scheme which features young women with a knack for STEM (Science Technology Engineering and Math)--Girls
who engineer, tinker, hack, and more, using their smarts to save the day. It’s
got space operas, sci-fi mysteries, steampunk, cyberpunk, all kinds of punk!
Brave New Girls: Stories of Girls Who Science and Schemeis the second volume of the Brave New
Girls anthology series. The first,Brave
New Girls: Tales of Girls and Gadgets was released in June 2015 and
has so far raised thousands of dollars for the Society of Women Engineers
Scholarship fund. Find it onAmazon.
Be sure to pick up your copy in August 2017! It's going to be an incredible anthology!
This
week I spent time in two all day meetings that were long and exhausting. But on
the first day it didn’t take me more than five minutes to realize something
significant about the group. I was the only female engineer in the room. Not
just engineer, the only female. Sure we had a female office administrator setup
the meeting (and that’s a discussion for a whole other day), but when she left,
I was the lone female. The only girl in the room.
Now
I have to say in general the divide in engineering is getting much better. In
the last couple years my group alone has more than doubled its number of female
engineers from two to five. And this past summer we had two female interns. Sounds
awesome right? Not quite. In a growing group of thirty five plus engineers, this is
not an accurate representation of the world. When you go to the grocery store
or the mall or the gas station you don’t look up and say hey I’m the only
female here. So why is that the case in a large engineering corporation? And
what message does this send to up and coming females seeking out technical
fields?
Without
a single person opening their mouth, the room says, women aren’t welcome. Now I’m
not saying that’s actually the case. Every person in the room respects me as an
engineer—a respect that I unfortunately had to work long and hard to earn. And on
the surface, they don’t treat me any differently than anyone else. But there are comments that sometimes inadvertently alienate me as a female. And as the
saying goes, “a picture is worth a thousand words”. So in a room full of men, how do we show women that
they are welcome? Because when I’m the sole female representative, I
don’t even have to notice that I’m alone to feel that pressure to prove myself.
To prove that I know what I’m talking about, to prove that I’m good enough, to
prove that I belong. And that is exhausting.
All
it takes is the realization that I’m alone, for a minority to go to that place
where they feel isolated in a room full of people. To feel like they don’t
belong. Like they aren’t qualified. And as a society I think we can send a
better message just by changing the dynamics of a room. I’m not saying hire
someone or bring them into a room to fill a quota. We should be hiring the best
and the brightest no question. But just being aware of there’s a problem is a
huge first step. Realizing that sometimes the uneven dynamics create isolation
that may not be visible on the surface. And showing the future of STEM fields
that this is the reality right now, but it doesn’t have to continue to be this
way.
Women
are strong enough, smart enough, and are qualified enough to fill the room. We
belong. We shouldn’t let the look of a room tell us otherwise. We shouldn’t
give up just because we are alone. One day we can change the look of the room. One day I
will look up and realize, I’m not the only girl in the room.
Over the past week Goldie Blox has drummed up quite a bit of buzz, but it has also stirred up some controversy. For those unfamiliar with the toy, it is a series of books and building items designed to teach kids about pre-engineering principles by combining story with hands on activities. Sounds like a great toy. So where does the controversy lie? The tools, spools, ribbons, and other items are donned in pinks, purples, and yellows in an effort to directly target girls. This has been labeled a "girl toy".
Now I will preface by saying I don't believe in girl toys and boy toys. My sister and I both played with Legos, dinosaurs, trucks, Hotwheels, and on and on. We also played with dolls, had tea parties, and played dress up. We did it all. So the fact that Goldie Blox is aimed directly at girls is both exciting and disappointing all at the same time. I'm honestly utterly torn.
As a female engineer it is readily apparent to me every day that I am in a minority. There are some days I look around me for a female face and there are none. Quite often I am the only female in a room. It sucks and unfortunately there's really no better explanation for it. In my job, I am often looked on to do "girl tasks" such as run webex meetings, organize things, and take notes in meetings. Women in the workplace are often viewed as the mom's and are expected to think of everything when others don't. No disrespect to mom's, secretaries, office administrators, or other hard working individuals but while those things are a part of my job, it is not my sole responsibility day in and day out. I have engineering work to do as well. And while others have similar engineering work, it is also everyone's responsibility to do the "girl tasks" in their day to day jobs. Just because there is a female in the office does not mean it is solely her job to take care of those things.
Even worse, I still deal with gender stereotypes and comments that sometimes cross the line. And when a women has a baby, look out that's the end of her career. It is unfair to have to deal with these views. It is also something I've had to learn to stand up against. Something I never should have had to do. But that is the reality of women in engineering today. In fact, it's the reality of a lot of women in the workplace today. There are still stereotypes every single day, and I often have to work harder to prove that I am just as capable as my male counter parts. That I don't just bat my eyelashes to get what I want. That I struggle and claw and pull my way along some days just to show I can do it too, that my ideas are just as good as everyone else's.
So when a toy like Goldie Blox comes along and gets girls interested in a field that is struggling on a daily basis to not only maintain female numbers but also increase them, I applaud them. There is not nearly enough of this kind of thing in the world. That said, I think some of their marketing is a little misguided. But their heart is certainly in the right place.
There's no denying that most girls like pink, so I give Goldie Blox a ton
of credit for making a toy that will attract young girls' eyes. But if you read Goldie Blox's FAQ, I mean really read it, there's a point in there that I think is being vastly overlooked.
6) What engineering principles are being taught through the GoldieBlox toy?
“GoldieBlox and the Spinning Machine” explores wheels and axles, force, friction and tension to build a belt drive machine.
"GoldieBlox and the Parade Float" delves into wheels and axles, gear action and vehicle design.
Future toys will explore pulleys, gears, levers, circuits and even coding!
Whether this toy is pink, purple, green, blue or tie dye, it's teaching kids (yes I said kids and not girls!) about engineering principles in a hands on way. When I was young, I really only learned about these principles from a text book. Which is often a difficult way to learn. This toy combines multiple kinds of learning with storytelling and hands on activities. It helps kids understand complex ideas at a younger age. I'm of firm belief that the sooner we turn kids on to things, the more prepared they are to handle struggles.
Fact of the matter is, everything we've learned in our lives down to walking and talking was hard at one point. But we overcame those difficulties and learned to do them. Engineering, math, and science are no different. Nothing in life is any different. Everything is hard at one point. We don't come out of the womb knowing it all and able to do everything. Kids see this everyday. They struggle. Many quit because of it.
The sooner we get kids turned on to complex topics and help them build that foundation, the better. Once kids have the basic tools, learning more complex concepts becomes easier. And the longer you do something the simpler it becomes. While not overly advertised, that is something this toy focuses on. Teaching kids pre-engineering principles in a way that they can understand and master them. But you can't entirely fault their marketing scheme. Clearly pink and purple are working. Look how many people are talking about this toy. But I hope in the future Goldie Blox expands their marketing to include what the toy is really about, teaching engineering principles to kids.
In this country, we can't train people in STEM careers fast enough. There is not enough supply to meet the increasing demand. So any toy that turns kids on to engineering, boy, girl, alien or what have you, is something we need more of. So why focus on girls when this is a problem in general? Because girls are much more likely to abandoned STEM fields at an earlier age. When asked about skills mastery, girls consistently rank themselves lower than boys of equal skill level. It's one reason why so many women leave engineering fields everyday. Women have to work harder, not only to overcome the stereotypes, but to overcome their own internal thoughts and feelings. It's exhausting.
The sooner we turn girls onto STEM the better. The sooner we expose kids to these ideals, and show them the possibilities, the sooner we start preparing for the future. This stuff is hard, but if we show kids it can be done, they build that confidence. They work harder. They don't quit as easily. And this something every kid needs to see, hear, and experience. Something a toy like Goldie Blox shows kids. That this stuff isn't so hard, it just takes some work and looking at it in a different way.
In the end whether you like the toy or not, the controversy has brought light to a topic that is near and dear to my heart. A topic that is not addressed nearly enough. Something that doesn't get enough attention. That we need more women in STEM fields. And if this toy can make the world not only notice this, but also face this issue head on and talk about it in any light, then I am 100% percent behind it, no questions asked.
