and a coordinator for my university's Women in Computer Science initiative, it's good to see more organizations target girls, specifically, in their recruitment efforts. There have been many studies that show that disproportionate numbers of girls "lose interest" in science, math, and computers as they progress through adolescence. This may be the new millenium, but there are still influences that turn girls off these areas of study.
While there may be physiological differences between men and women (and there are studies supporting that), no study has conclusively shown that women inherently lack the necessary skills to succeed in math, science, and engineering. Therefore, the reasons that girls choose English, Psychology, and Biology over Math, Computer Science, and Engineering (for example) are societal influences. There is a real male-oriented culture still in these areas, and people have two choices: to point to all the progress that has been made over the past century and the lip service that equality is given and say "Look! There's no problem at all!"... or to open their eyes and realize that discrimination and discouragement happens in subtle ways.
Adolescent girls, like adolescent boys, are delicate. A few off-color comments about women's ability in a field by a person in a position of authority, and a girl may, when the going gets tough in junior high, decide to go the safe route--and excel at writing, art, music, etc.
True, there is a percentage of girls who do math and science "for the fun of it", for the challenge of solving problems, etc. But they are often the ones who are (no offense;) "weird" and probably don't care too much what their peers think about their pursuits.
The ones that need to be targetted are the borderline ones, who may have the interest or talent yet are lacking the external support to make such a non-traditional choice in an unforgiving social environment such as high school.
I am a third year Computer Science student, and one of the coordinators for http://wcs.csc.uvic.ca/ , the Women in Computer Science Initiative at my university.
One of the biggest challenges is, as the parent poster says, overcoming the stereotypes surrounding Computer Science/Engineering/Math/Science. The other big challenge, IMO, is answering the "Why?" question--as in "Why should I care about CSC/Engineering/etc.?".
To encourage girls to enter the sciences, the best way is to show them how it applies to their lives on a day-to-day basis. This approach will like work with boys, too.
I recommend reading "Unlocking the Clubhouse: Women in Computing" by Jane Margolis and Allan Fisher (or at least skimming it) for an idea of the subtle ways that women are discouraged from taking math and science. Many people, including educators, are unaware how much impact even the slightest discouragement has on girls.
Of course, there are the obvious things: make sure that none of the material can be possibly viewed as sexist, check to make sure that girls can relate to the examples, and actively encourage them to participate. Studies have shown that not only are girls more sensitive to subtle discouragement, they are also more sensitive than boys to a lack of encouragement. Again, the book I mentioned above has a much better overview of all these points, and there is lots of material on the Internet regarding women in CSC/Engineering/the Sciences.
Lastly, from our experiences with high school presentations, you may want to think about involving younger (middle school age) children, if appropriate, as they are often less entrenched in the stereotypes and hence, more open to new experiences.
Slashdot Mirror
You might look into the Lego Mindstorms. They are programmable using a graphical interface (drag'n'drop, I think), and are aimed at kids.
The official Lego website.
But how many of them dropped out of the field because they couldn't stand up to the subtle discrimination and discouragement from the men around them?
It takes one self-confident woman to survive in a male-dominated field like IT or computer science.
and a coordinator for my university's Women in Computer Science initiative, it's good to see more organizations target girls, specifically, in their recruitment efforts. There have been many studies that show that disproportionate numbers of girls "lose interest" in science, math, and computers as they progress through adolescence. This may be the new millenium, but there are still influences that turn girls off these areas of study.
While there may be physiological differences between men and women (and there are studies supporting that), no study has conclusively shown that women inherently lack the necessary skills to succeed in math, science, and engineering. Therefore, the reasons that girls choose English, Psychology, and Biology over Math, Computer Science, and Engineering (for example) are societal influences. There is a real male-oriented culture still in these areas, and people have two choices: to point to all the progress that has been made over the past century and the lip service that equality is given and say "Look! There's no problem at all!"... or to open their eyes and realize that discrimination and discouragement happens in subtle ways.
Adolescent girls, like adolescent boys, are delicate. A few off-color comments about women's ability in a field by a person in a position of authority, and a girl may, when the going gets tough in junior high, decide to go the safe route--and excel at writing, art, music, etc.
True, there is a percentage of girls who do math and science "for the fun of it", for the challenge of solving problems, etc. But they are often the ones who are (no offense ;) "weird" and probably don't care too much what their peers think about their pursuits.
The ones that need to be targetted are the borderline ones, who may have the interest or talent yet are lacking the external support to make such a non-traditional choice in an unforgiving social environment such as high school.
I am a third year Computer Science student, and one of the coordinators for http://wcs.csc.uvic.ca/ , the Women in Computer Science Initiative at my university.
One of the biggest challenges is, as the parent poster says, overcoming the stereotypes surrounding Computer Science/Engineering/Math/Science. The other big challenge, IMO, is answering the "Why?" question--as in "Why should I care about CSC/Engineering/etc.?".
To encourage girls to enter the sciences, the best way is to show them how it applies to their lives on a day-to-day basis. This approach will like work with boys, too.
I recommend reading "Unlocking the Clubhouse: Women in Computing" by Jane Margolis and Allan Fisher (or at least skimming it) for an idea of the subtle ways that women are discouraged from taking math and science. Many people, including educators, are unaware how much impact even the slightest discouragement has on girls.
Of course, there are the obvious things: make sure that none of the material can be possibly viewed as sexist, check to make sure that girls can relate to the examples, and actively encourage them to participate. Studies have shown that not only are girls more sensitive to subtle discouragement, they are also more sensitive than boys to a lack of encouragement. Again, the book I mentioned above has a much better overview of all these points, and there is lots of material on the Internet regarding women in CSC/Engineering/the Sciences.
Lastly, from our experiences with high school presentations, you may want to think about involving younger (middle school age) children, if appropriate, as they are often less entrenched in the stereotypes and hence, more open to new experiences.
Perhaps you should look at Dillo.
:)
It doesn't render like IE, but it meets all the other requirements
And you got a problem with women hackers?
It's time to ditch the male hacker stereotype surrounding computers.
On Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada, there is a well-known ISP named Island Internet.
...trademark infringement!
So either this is two idiot marketing people, or