Let me get my obvious bias out of the way. I'm married to the original poster. However, I'm also a strong proponent in my own right of getting women involved in technology-related fields. Much of the work I do is geared toward that goal.
One of the things that's come out in a lot of research related to girls and women in fields where they are underrepresented--science, technology, upper echelons of business--is that it's often the culture of that field that keeps them out. The culture is often very male-oriented, focusing on competition instead of cooperation, as one example. I just listened to a Harvard Business Review podcast about how the culture at many companies is what keeps women out. At some companies, for example, women managers are taken out to entertain clients at strip clubs. That may be an extreme case, but there are plenty of more subtle things that can turn people off and prevent them from participating in something. It's important to examine our assumptions about what others find appealing. Maybe combat robotics is appealing to some people, but it might not be to others.
I applaud the FI for encouraging the building of technical skills in kids, especially kids who might not have the opportunity otherwise, but there are many ways to do that besides having kids watch robots destroy each other. I find it ironic that Manny mentioned discouraging crime by having students in a program based on violence. I might remind others that Bryn Mawr's roots are in the Quaker philosophy, which is opposed to violence, so Bryn Mawr students questioning the use of violence in education is in keeping with its foundations.
Discouraging
Let me get my obvious bias out of the way. I'm married to the original poster. However, I'm also a strong proponent in my own right of getting women involved in technology-related fields. Much of the work I do is geared toward that goal.
One of the things that's come out in a lot of research related to girls and women in fields where they are underrepresented--science, technology, upper echelons of business--is that it's often the culture of that field that keeps them out. The culture is often very male-oriented, focusing on competition instead of cooperation, as one example. I just listened to a Harvard Business Review podcast about how the culture at many companies is what keeps women out. At some companies, for example, women managers are taken out to entertain clients at strip clubs. That may be an extreme case, but there are plenty of more subtle things that can turn people off and prevent them from participating in something. It's important to examine our assumptions about what others find appealing. Maybe combat robotics is appealing to some people, but it might not be to others.
I applaud the FI for encouraging the building of technical skills in kids, especially kids who might not have the opportunity otherwise, but there are many ways to do that besides having kids watch robots destroy each other. I find it ironic that Manny mentioned discouraging crime by having students in a program based on violence. I might remind others that Bryn Mawr's roots are in the Quaker philosophy, which is opposed to violence, so Bryn Mawr students questioning the use of violence in education is in keeping with its foundations.