The feature story on my university’s home page today is:
No Boys Allowed: Friendships among high school girls can promote academic success
Hard to resist reading further! My initial reaction “No Boys? No Way!” But being quite fond of listening to different points of view, I tossed aside my initial reaction and began reading the article with a critical eye.
With math and science test scores narrowing between the genders, the mystery remains as to why girls pursue majors in math and science less frequently than boys. The research of Muller, Riegle-Crumb and Farcas shows a correlation between girls choosing to pursue math and science and positive female role models and friendships.
“For girls, female friends with higher grades function as role models who do well in the subject, set norms about working hard, establish a competitive but friendly environment, offer emotional support to surmount the difficulties of pursuing advanced courses and counteract any discouragement they might face.â€
So, techno girlfriends, does this ring true to you? How did you end up in the male dominated field of information technology?
Interesting…
I was lucky to always have had a good group of friends of both sexes who were high achievers academically. Hard to parse out whether the girlfriends were more important motivators than the boys. We were all there studying together, encouraging, and competing with each other, and gender wasn’t really an issue in this. Really, I have to say that the most important motivators for me were my parents, who were always supportive and encouraging of my forays into math and science. They created an atmoshphere where there was no question in my mind that I could do whatever the hell I wanted with my life, and be good at it.
I was a scientist before I got into information technology. The lack of female role models in the sciences struck me full-force in grad school, when my career path was something I finally had to start thinking about, and when I had to start playing political games to succeed. It was then that it became obvious that being female was a disadvantage, and that there were very few women to talk to about it.
I have a hunch. Perhaps the “first wave o’ girls” into a male dominated occupation have the following:
1) A mentor who encouraged you to believe you could do anything.
2) A comfort level (perhaps even pride) in being different.
3) The resources/opportunities needed to be successful in said occupation.
For me, my father treated me as an intellectual peer, was always very honest with me (never, ever overpraising me), and taught me that I could be successful in whatever I set my mind to.
In addition, my father let me into his world of auto racing. Growing up, most of my friends were males 20+ years older than me. Being one of the few women in the room and being surrounded by amazing technology is how I grew up.