Women/Girls in technology

As a School Board Trustee in Michigan I have been starting the conversation about Women/Girls and technology. In this "Flat World" the jobs of the future will focus on technology,science, and math, accounting for 50% of all new jobs. To compete with the world many women will need to account for these new jobs.

Unfortunately, I do not see our education system taking on the responsibility of finding ways to get girls interested in math, science, and technology. Sometimes I feel like the girls are intimidated ny the male dominated fields. As a Supervisor for Best Buy I have trouble hiring enough females...again I think it may have to do with our culture assuming girls aren't interested. Any thoughts?

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Permalink Reply by Nugent on October 19, 2008 at 6:11am: Several reasons: First, this where all the opportunity will be for anyone. With over half of all jobs coming from technology and over half our population female, we((nation) need them in these fields to compete in a global economy. Second, I think we discriminate against them, we assume they are not interested in these areas.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by TyphoidKitten on December 31, 2008 at 7:20pm: I think it's the persons choice on what they want to learn. Not the school. The school is only there to help them with their choice.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Dan on January 17, 2009 at 6:06pm: Right on. What is in your blood you will know it and persue it. We hold schools accountable for far too much today.

Dan 'J5'; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by creative muffin on January 13, 2009 at 6:27am: in the past, it was shown that females were not as encouraged into the tech/math/science areas.

as a girl in that time, i saw that we were encouraged to go to home ec, while boys were the ones to fill the computer classes.

i remember in middle school they had a meeting with the entire school to discuss with us the importance of women being equal....only then did the computer classes open up and signs went up for biology and computer clubs..before they were word of mouth and i never heard of them or knew they existed!

it is also up to the parents and my parents always encouraged us both equally, but go figure, the firt computer we had, went directly to my brothers room....our next computer went into a computer room and i was given equal time on it once i raised hell!

my daughter, the juju bean, is one of the best students in her class in science and computers and, well, in every educational area she is top of her class, and they are in 2nd grade.
her school is adamant about equality of sexes in education and that is why i chose to send her there.
it is truly amazing how some places still follow archaic sexist systems!; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by moi2 on October 19, 2008 at 6:26am: A lot of women are very interested in tech but are intimidated by the attitudes they find. Many women are involved in technology but find little by way of acknowledgments, kudos or encouragement.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Sol McNally Aka : Dmitri Girl on December 31, 2008 at 4:45pm: I can agree with this but I am sort of going to repeat what I said above. Confidence Confidence Confidence. If you don't think you know anything no one else will either.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Danii on December 30, 2008 at 3:58am: I love technology... I'm actually trying to decide which degree I want to switch to that is IT related... I was in nursing school but realized thats incredibly boring, I spend every minute of my day that I have a chance on my laptop... I dunno why some girls think its "not cool" or would be embarrassed... I would be embarrassed if I didn't know anything about computers... and I think it would be great to be in a classroom full of guys... I get along much better with guys and all of my friends are guys anyways!; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Sol McNally Aka : Dmitri Girl on December 31, 2008 at 4:48pm: This is a total tech girl at heart keep on trucking Danii. And Most girls that enjoy tech. Have more male friends do to well the simple fact her female friends. Don't care to have the knowledge your seeking. And you feel you can only conversate with the males.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by David Murray on December 30, 2008 at 5:50am: It would be nice to see more girls in science, engineering and technology if for no other reason than they would be more likely to see the geeks for who they are. Geeks are like rock stars in their fields except without the girls.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Helen on December 30, 2008 at 7:33am: LoL - I don't know about 'rock stars'!! But I know some pretty cool guy geeks. The key is to pick a good geek and not a self-absorbed nerd or dork and there is sometimes a fine line there.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Dawn-Ann Kirkpatrick on December 30, 2008 at 6:57am: Segregate grade schools according to gender. Seriously! When boys and girls are not distracted by each other, both genders do better in all areas. Girls feel free to bring out their scientific sides (if they have them). If there are boys in the room girls will often not answer questions or step forward with ideas - they feel intimidated. Of course, that's only part of the solution, but it would be a fabulous beginning.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Susan Kirkpatrick on January 16, 2009 at 9:44am: Was just going to reply and totally agree with this... when I realized apparently we have the exact same middle and last names! ;) Right on.; ▶ Reply to This