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Image provided by: SUNY Polytechnic Institute
SUNY Talks Technology to Tomorrow's Women Students By Patrick Lavin On April SUNY Tech's TWIST organization hosted over 60 girls from area junior high schools for a day of Telecomm, Robotics, Electronics, and Photonics. TWIST, formed in 1988, stands for Tomorrow's Women In Science and Tech nology; its aim is to try to reverse the trend on the part of young girls to steer clear of science and technical subjects when it comes time to choose a career. It seems that even before girls reach junior high , they start losing interest in science math, and related subjects. When women first entered the work force in large numbers during WW II, they largely held blue- collar manufacturing jobs in defense plants. In the years following the war, the women who remained in the work force had relatively limited career choices such as teacher, nurse, librarian, telephone operator, or secretary. It's been more than twenty years since the birth of the feminist movement, yet for a variety of reasons, college-age women still gravitate toward the subjects that have tradition ally attracted women. This is despite a social climate that has fostered a great increase in oppor tunity for women in non-traditional roles. Particularly throughout the \Reaqan-revoluti o n .» business, management, law, and related subjects have been by far the most popular college majors on the Part of all students— male and female. American students in general have been more than willing to defer the study of technical disciplines to others. The trend seems to be on the increase; it's predicted that by the year 2000, this country will face a deficit of 700,000 engineers and tech nologists. As one SUNY Tech engineering professor once remarked: \People studying business and law will have for themselves a nice life...but someone will have to create the wealth.\ The \someone\ he was referring to are tomorrow's scientists, engineers, and technologists— people who are today's students. Among the students who do choose to study science and technology, women are drastically under represented. Women now represent some 45% of the work force, but only 11% of people working in technical disciplines, and only 4% of working engineers. TWIST intends to change that. TWIST's mentor program enlisted the aid of 4 women engineering profes sionals from the Utica area and a dozen women technical students from this school to make a case for technical careers. The day began for the visiting girls with an introduction to the world of technology, followed by a tour of some of our lab facilities. After a lunch in the campus center dining hall, the girls participated in a panel discussion with Gretchen Bivens, an electrical engineer from Rome laboratory, Barbara DeBaun, a systems engineer from General Electric, Sondra Mansur, a software engineer from General Electric, and Joan Zelinski, a computer scientist from PAR Government Systems. Dr. Joanne Joseph from our own psychology faculty started the discussion off with a few comments. She asked the young girls if they thought that males and females thi/ik differently. The answer she received was a unanimous \YES!\ When pressed further to qualify that answer, one girl (in a tone that indicated she felt the answer to be obvious) piped up: \Because we're smarter!\ Her response was met with a chorus of rousing laughter. Dr. Joseph went on to explain that although the sexes sometimes perceive things differently, the idea that one sex is smarter than the other wasn't quite accurate, she also referred to studies indicating that young girls who perform well in science and math tend to rationalize any above-average performance. Girls frequently tend to feel: \I did well because the teacher likes me,\ or \It was an easy test.\ Boys tend to conclude that good performance in science is indicative of a talent for the subject. She went on to observe that many girls feel that science and engineering are unfeminine, and that many girls never even consider non- traditional careers. To better understand this, consider the opposite perspective. The same kind of cultural conditioning probably prevents most men from even considering non- traditional male jobs, such as nursing or primary education. The Social attitudes we grow up with are very slow to change and very hard to overcome. The panelists then joined the discussion by introducing themselves and giving a brief and sometimes lofty description of their careers and credentials. They then took turns giving the girls encourage ment and advice on the important subject of starting to prepare early for technical careers. The women on the panel unanimously stressed the importance of taking all the science and math humanly possible while still in high school. That way, students could keep their options open. They also stressed writing, commun ication, and keyboarding skills. The panelists also discussed personal issues, such as family life. GE's Sondra Mansur stressed the importance of finding a man who will be supportive— adding that non-supportive men can (and should) be easily replaced. The phrase \there are plenty mote fish in the sea!\ received a healthy round of applause. Gretchen Bivens, from Rome Laboratory, introduced herself by saying: \As you can probably tell, I'm expecting my second child.\ She went on to tell the girls that a full family life is possible with a career, she told the girls that being one of 6 female engineering under graduates among a class of 250 isn't all bad. Her observation \You'll have plenty of dates !\ seemed to be well received. GE's Barbara DeBaun chimed in with \male engineering students aren't nerds, either.\ The women engineers on the panel agreed that in years past, young women received very little encouragement, and that as time goes on, negative factors such as discrimination and social attitudes are on the decline. Barbara DeBaun from GE recalled that in a junior high school science class, actual moon rocks acquired during the Apollo space program were brought in for display. When the students were invited up to examine them more closely, she said she was the only girl in the class to go up. \I knew other girls wanted to— they just didn't.\ The projected shortage of engineers will require this country to produce some 85,000 women and minority engineers each year by the year 2000. Time will tell whether the panelists' words will have a decisive effect on tomorrow's women— but one thing is certain: tomorrow's women represent a resource that the country can no longer afford to neglect. IS I A lj, T 6 6 T 'I Aew - ssuitj , Aaogoej eqj,
