View Single Post
Old 12-08-2015, 11:30 AM   #515
DanaC
We have to go back, Kate!
 
Join Date: Apr 2004
Location: Yorkshire
Posts: 25,964
Lots of people, particularly, but not exclusively, women, have been telling the STEM industries what the problems might be and how they might be addressed, for quite a long time now. There are some really good initiatives reaching kids in schools and colleges, and they might be part of why female participation in science and tech subjects, past the primary education age, and into later study has grown substantially. There's a lot of really solid research and case study work to draw from.

It is not that people haven't been offering better ideas. It is that the STEM industry giants have only listened with one ear. They've heard and understood that women actually should be, for a more equal society, but more importantly for better industry, more equally present in their fields. They clearly want to do something about it. IBM has made progress in terms of women in management that really matters. But - they're not prepared to listen to the rest of it. They don't want to know, possibly because they are still overwhelmingly managed by men, all that boring, icky shit about sexism and stereotypes that women keep banging on about.

Here's an example of an alternative approach focused on school age children, on sparking the desire for scientific exploration and a sense of the possible. Note that the way they show and encourage girls into STEM subjects is by encouraging a bunch of kids of both genders to explore science and technology. Degendering, rather than regendering.

http://www.girlsintostem.co.uk/
__________________
Quote:
There's only so much punishment a man can take in pursuit of punani. - Sundae
http://sites.google.com/site/danispoetry/

Last edited by DanaC; 12-08-2015 at 11:40 AM.
DanaC is offline   Reply With Quote