Pretty curious

[Amira]

Basic summary: An energy company in the UK sponsored a competition to encourage girls to get involved in STEM.  The competition was named Pretty Curious and was only open to girls. Later they allowed boys to enter.  An all-woman panel selected the five finalists (3 girls, 2 boys) and internet voters chose the winner.  A boy who designed an energy-generating game controller got the most votes and won.

 

BBC article

Finalists and judges

 

I'm curious what people think about this.  Is it a good idea to have competitions like this that are just open to girls?  Do you like the name?  What do you think about a boy winning a competition to encourage girls in STEM?  Do you think an online vote in a STEM competition would make it less likely that a girl would win or have no effect on her chances?

[umsami]

One thing that has always fascinated me is how Iran, which most Westerners view as so oppressive to women, has such a high number of women STEM grads compared to the US.  (70% of their grads vs. ~20% of ours.) 

 

Why is this?  Is it single sex education in the sciences and math which make a difference? (There are studies that support that.  Had a college roommate who attended the Philadelphia Girls High School and raved about it.)  

 

Is it something else?

 

I'm going to bet that in the former USSR, there was more parity as well. 

 

The name doesn't bother me that much, but a little.  Do all girl things have to be related to cute, pretty, etc.  Ugh.   I'm not sure if the online vote led to a boy winning or not, but its annoying that one did win in this case.   In my case, I'd be more likely to vote for a girl especially in this case.   I do seem to remember girls winning some of the Intel science competitions, but it's definitely not a 50/50 thing. 

 

 

[Carrie12345]

I think inclusive competitions are great, but that it's absolutely ridiculous to propose an event designed to serve marginalized groups and then invite the over-represented group to participate.

 

And the name stinks.

[Aiden]

I'm also not a huge fan of the name--I don't like that things marketed to girls tend to focus on appearance. It's not a deal breaker for me, though. I'm hesitant about a girls-only STEM competition, in any case, as it seems to imply that the girls can't compete with the boys and need their own special competition in order to have a chance at winning. To have an event marketed as being for girls then be won by a boy really is counterproductive--better either to market it as getting "kids" interested in STEM or to leave it as girls-only.

 

My biggest hangup about this competition, though, is that from the brief descriptions they gave of the winning and runner-up ideas, only two of them seemed to fit the criteria of the competition, assuming the instructions really were to design new technology specifically for the bedroom, as the news article suggested. The winner's idea could be used in a bedroom but makes more sense in a living/play/game room. The Fridge BUDI idea would make a much more useful kitchen gadget than bedroom gadget. The Bubble Board is clearly meant to be used in a bathroom (which is borderline, since an en suite bath could be considered part of the bedroom). The Smart Curtains and Sleep Monitor were the only ideas that were specific to the bedroom. I would think the panel would choose ideas that met the criteria of the competition. The winning idea definitely has merit, but it's not a bedroom item, so it should have been eliminated from consideration before it got to the voting stage.

[poppy]

A lot of Girl Scout troops will do a pinewood derby (a traditional boy scout activity involving design & woodworking & competition) but call it a "powderpuff derby".  I love the idea but hate the name...... why turn the girls into a joke? Why when there are girls involved does appearance have to be referenced?

 

 

One thing that has always fascinated me is how Iran, which most Westerners view as so oppressive to women, has such a high number of women STEM grads compared to the US.  (70% of their grads vs. ~20% of ours.) 

 

Why is this?  Is it single sex education in the sciences and math which make a difference? (There are studies that support that.  Had a college roommate who attended the Philadelphia Girls High School and raved about it.)  

 

I'm a big believer in single sex education and I'm sure that's a factor.  I also wonder (not knowing much about Iran) if there is less of a tradition of women going into traditional women's fields of nursing and teaching. The most popular degree for women (and men) is "business" which is a fairly meaningless field- not putting you on any specific track or career.  Maybe if "business" is not a fallback for undefined "I want a white collar type job" it means that you end up with more specific career-driven majors?

[Carrie12345]

 I'm hesitant about a girls-only STEM competition, in any case, as it seems to imply that the girls can't compete with the boys and need their own special competition in order to have a chance at winning. To have an event marketed as being for girls then be won by a boy really is counterproductive--better either to market it as getting "kids" interested in STEM or to leave it as girls-only.

 

 

 

But it isn't about not being able to compete intellectually.  It's about fostering confidence in their abilities by (temporarily) removing the every day obstacles that are known to inhibit the group on both personal and professional levels.

 

(Edited for weird punctuation. I think.

Edited February 28, 2016 by Carrie12345

[Aiden]

But it isn't about not being able to compete intellectually.  It's about fostering confidence in their abilities by (temporarily) removing the every day obstacles that are known to inhibit the group on both personal and professional levels.

 

(Edited for weird punctuation. I think.

 

I'm not committed to opposing single-sex competitions, but I wonder if they are counterproductive. Even as a teenager, when offered the opportunity to compete intellectually against only girls or against girls and boys, I was more interested in competing against both. I was insulted at the offer to limit my competition to girls only, because my logic told me that a wider pool of competitors was more likely to get good ones than any pool that was limited by irrelevant factors--not that the boys necessarily were smarter or better at the tast than the girls, but that most likely, _some_ of them were smarter or better at the task than _many_ of the girls, just as _some_ of the girls were smarter/better at the task than _many_ of the boys. I wanted to compete against the best, and limiting it to girls only meant that I was being prevented from finding out if I could win against all the boys. Then again, I didn't lack for confidence in my intelligence or intellectual abilities, either, and I routinely competed against and beat boys in academic competitions.

 

 

[Carrie12345]

I'm not committed to opposing single-sex competitions, but I wonder if they are counterproductive. Even as a teenager, when offered the opportunity to compete intellectually against only girls or against girls and boys, I was more interested in competing against both. I was insulted at the offer to limit my competition to girls only, because my logic told me that a wider pool of competitors was more likely to get good ones than any pool that was limited by irrelevant factors--not that the boys necessarily were smarter or better at the tast than the girls, but that most likely, _some_ of them were smarter or better at the task than _many_ of the girls, just as _some_ of the girls were smarter/better at the task than _many_ of the boys. I wanted to compete against the best, and limiting it to girls only meant that I was being prevented from finding out if I could win against all the boys. Then again, I didn't lack for confidence in my intelligence or intellectual abilities, either, and I routinely competed against and beat boys in academic competitions.

 

And it's truly great when girls (or anyone for that matter) can do that.  

I signed up for a drafting class in high school and didn't think anything of it until my guidance counselor asked me if I would still be okay with it when it turned out I was the only girl signed up.  Her concern suddenly became my concern, and I switched out of the course before it began.

 

Individually, we all have different influences.  As a whole, there is a well-researched problem.

[wapiti]

I didn't read about this particular competition, though perhaps there is a social aspect, positive results from bringing girls together who have these interests in common, like The Math Prize for Girls.  For example, to quote Rusczyk (p. 10):

 

The students will strive to be like their peers. They learn a lot from their peers.  This is one of the wonderful things about The Math Prize for Girls. They’re bringing all these girls from all over the place. Some of them might be the only ones within a hundred miles that have the same passion for what they’re doing that they do. You bring them all together, and they all start to lift each other up. For some of these students, it’s awfully lonely. You see beauty somewhere that no one else in the school is even looking, and that’s lonely.

 

As for the name "Pretty," ick.

 

(While a couple of my kids attend a STEM school, I tend to worry less about broader "STEM" activities and more about math specifically.  If math were better taught in K-12, I think that would be a huge step in the right direction for all.)

Edited February 28, 2016 by wapiti

[meena]

That name is terrible. Would they give a similar name to a contest just for boys, or one that was originally intended for both boys and girls? Nope. So why is an appearance-based descriptor added to a contest that was intended just for girls? Not only does the word "pretty" have the association with appearance but the double meaning also has connotations of being wavering or noncommittal. (Think of someone asking if you're curious about something and your response is along the lines of "yeah, I'm pretty curious." It wouldn't make me think you are dedicated or totally into that thing.) Why not use adjectives that show dedication and commitment like "Strongly Curious" or "Fiercely Curious"?

 

As for same-sex contests, I always related better to boys in school. My best friends were boys and I wanted to do whatever they were doing. I would have felt weird doing an academic activity just for girls. In high school, though, I had a chemistry teacher who preferred the male students even though I was performing better than all of the boys. That was frustrating and I could see how an all-girl group or mentorship could have helped my confidence during those years.

[J-rap]

I don't like the name at all (it bugs me quite a bit), and I don't understand why they let boys join the competition.  I think that was silly.

[Tsuga]

I didn't read the article, and don't want to, so can someone tell me: were voters shown whether the project was a boy's project (i.e. was it de-personalized or did they see the kids)?

 

I have seen way too many experiments that have shown repeatedly that there is bias. Boys are "ADD", girls are not, even when the symptoms are made up and the same and the photos are stock photos. Men are chosen more often for jobs, girls are assumed to be write better essays even when the real essay was written by a boy, and they assigned names randomly.

 

So if they attached personal information to the projects, I am opposed.

 

I don't don't get the point of allowing boys to enter at the last minute and I support single-sex education for those who choose it and have the means. So I'm not opposed to a girl-only or a boy-only club. In fact I think if we had explicitly boy-only clubs and equality, far more girls (such as in Iran, for example) would participate because we'd have to overtly support equal opportunity, whereas right now, girls are deterred, rightly or not, by the "boy's club" feel and aren't offered alternatives because "anyone can join the main club" which is really almost all boys. And yes, in 2016, both of my daughters have been told to their faces: "This is a boy's club. Only boys do _____"

 

Coding, Lego, whatever. Which is why I enroll them in all girls' classes whenever possible. If boys NEVER said that, I would tell my girls to buck up. If boys said that and it was even 60:40 ratio (which it's not because of that one boy... every time), I would tell my girls to buck up. Given that they are often the only girl and are told directly they shouldn't be there, I am willing to go all girl.