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From: marla@Sun.COM (Marla Parker)
Newsgroups: comp.society.women
Subject: Women and Mathematics (was Re: Women on the Net)
Message-ID: <6654@ecsvax.UUCP>
Date: 1 Mar 89 21:45:24 GMT
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In article <6432@ecsvax.UUCP> hunt@alpha.CES.CWRU.Edu (Francie Hunt) writes:
>
>Actually, I think the visibility of successful women in the sciences
>is much more important at the younger levels.  By the time my students
>see me, they have already decided that they have the "right stuff"!
>I would like to be able to interact with girls in junior high and
>thereabouts to get them thinking about technical careers at an earlier age.

Early last summer I sent a vague request to this group for information
on high school career days, etc.  The 30+ responses that I received
boiled down to these suggestions: Society of Women Engineers, YWCA's
Career Options Unlimited,  Association for Women in Computing,
Expanding Your Horizons (sponsored by the Math/Science Network), Women
and Mathematics (WAM), Association of MIT Alumnae (AMITA), American
Women in Science, and assorted programs sponsored by large companies,
e.g.  Honeywell's Women in Technology and Science (WITS).

My local SWE does have some sort of a speakers' program, but it did not
sound as active as WAM.  Fortunately I contacted Jean Chan, the
coordinator for my WAM region, just in time last June to be included in
the 1988/89 WAM Speakers Booklet.  The booklets are sent to all the
middle and high schools in this region.  A school sends a request form
to WAM and Dr. Chan then tries to match up the request with the speaker
or some other speaker who has a similar talk.  So far I've spoken to
three groups at one high school in February, and I have scheduled talks
for two other high schools in March and April.  I turned down another
school because it was too far away (Dublin, CA).

I'm amazed at how much I've learned about speaking from just my first 3
talks.  My first audience was small and as silent as mice - no
questions at all.  The second and third were larger and there was more
response, I hope partly because I'm learning how to better encourage
interaction.

WAM needs more speakers.  I'll type in the names of all the regional
coordinators at the end of this (long) message.  Also I may as well
type in the letter that Dr. Chan sends to the schools.

SWE did call me eventually about speaking, but I turned them down
because I'm doing my limit for WAM already.  But through SWE I am
participating in the Girl Scouts Walk-A-Day program.  On March 14, a
9th grade girl is going to tag me all day at work.  I'm not supposed to
do anything different than usual, and she is just going to observe and
I presume ask questions.  My group is looking forward to it.  My boss
laughed when I told him about it and then suggested that I schedule it
on a day when there will be a bug meeting to attend, since those are
sometimes fun.  I don't know if the Walk-A-Day program is national or
just put on by GS of Santa Clara County.

In both these programs, I don't think I am providing a role model for
anyone so much as I am educating them about possibilities.  Everyone
knows the term "doctor" and everyone has some idea of what doctors do,
but hardly anyone knows what software engineers do for a living, and
many people have never even heard the term "software engineer".  The
same goes for most other engineering fields as well.  When I was in jr.
high I though an engineer drove a train, period.  Little did I know...

Marla Parker		(415)336-2538
marla@sun.com