I remember a few years ago. It was a Saturday night, Valentine's Day. I've never seen so many guys working in lab on their research. Zero females that night. (I was only there because that year I also worked Christmas thanksgiving July 4th etc )
Actually, it's not just girls who don't like STEM. Americans in general are choosing other paths. We say we respect STEM, but then everyone gets a business or law degree. I wonder how many Americans in this thread besides myself are even in STEM? The best is when feminists argue about how females should be doing STEM, but they themselves are not????
I have a mechanical engineering degree and I'm a programmer, but...meh. It's not my primary interest; not even my primary tech-or-science-based interest. If I were starting over I'd go into biology/genetics or social anthropology. I've considered whether it's too late to start over in either of those areas and actually get a job, and, well, yeah, I'm pretty sure it is. However, there's so little conventional plant breeding going on in my areas of interest that there's some room for an amateur to feel that their efforts aren't a complete waste of time.
By the way. I can't speak for sexism in programming. I've heard that may be different. In the physical sciences it's not really observable in the graduate school level at least. There is good representation of women and everyone gets along in public. Again, I've heard it may be different for computer science.
I interviewed my microbiologist sister-in-law for a feminist online magazine I used to write for. When I asked her about sexism and harassment, she denied having countered any and expressed detest towards quotas. It was slightly awkward to publish that article but what can you do, it was her opinion. Of course she's at University of Helsinki, and microbiology is dominated by women, so there are already two factors that make her situation possibly more bearable. Again, I don't know how bad it is in the US.
I'm pretty sure that you meant the above as "Life is imperfect, but what are you gonna do?" rather than "What are you, Chickenfreak, gonna do with that plant breeding thing?" but I choose to answer as if it were the second, because I'm eyeing a tomato and wondering what to do about it. As a learning experiment, I want to choose a breeding project involving an inbreeding food crop, to create a cultivar that is very suited to organic dryfarming--and that gives me something that I don't already have. I don't have a tomato that I really love. I kinda like Sungold, except it's a cherry tomato. I need a starting point. I'm staring at the evidence that Black Krim (a tomato--tomatoes are inbreeding) may be better in dryfarm conditions than Early Girl--where Early Girl is the standard. It's also incredibly productive. Edited to add: and still growing strong in chilly weather that has the other tomatoes saying, "OK, we're done." I was going to whine, "But I don't like Black Krim," but, really, when I catalog those advantages, who cares? I was thinking that I want to start with a fruit that I like--for example, people are already trying to make a full-sized version of Sungold. But Black Krim's resume for everything but fruit flavor is so good that it seems like a good candidate for one parent anyway. Maybe I should confirm that it's legal to breed Sungold (it's a hybrid, but I think neither patented or PVP) and cross them next year. The hybrid nature of Sungold would add complications, but since I'm just throwing dice anyway, that's OK. Ok, break over. I'm going to go dig more dirt now.
I have a number of clients involved in traditional plant breeding. We have an interesting case that depends, in part, on what constitutes a new variety.
It sounds like it is when you read what feminists write about women working in STEM! I'm actually currently working in a male dominated field myself and it's confusing how my own experiences are so drastically different from the reality (?) feminists paint, even in my own country. I know it's partly due to my personality, but it can't be the only reason...
As a female science graduate (my only published work to date is in the journal Inorganic Chemistry - it's a short story about how a lazy undergrad couldn't quite be arsed to weigh out reactants correctly and accidentally made a substance that contained Zinc atoms in a co-ordination environment no-one had ever seen before), I'd say just go in there and talk about all the cool jobs that they could do if they get an education in science. No mention of gender necessary. I think that would just confuse the issue: the issue being that science is fucking cool. (Maybe don't say 'fucking'.) At that age, I'm not sure they know or care that 'science is for boys'. I was in science club at school when I was 8. I just thought making circuits with tiny lightbulbs and crocodile clips kicked ass (and I wanted a certificate and a shiny badge). My only experience of misogynistic douchery while I was in science was from a fellow undergrad in my research group who was loud and creepy and handsy and generally a total arse. (When he graduated he became a management consultant. Maybe you should tell the girls to stay out of management consultancy?) All the actual scientists I worked with were completely awesome. I think women are the majority now in Biological and Chemical sciences? I recently read a great book about how Physics is the last 'no gurls allowd' club because of its historical ties with monasticism and how it still sees itself less as a science and more as a religion.
My undergraduate background is Microbiology and Chemistry. At the time, it was primarily male, though better represented than other areas. Most of my friends of the past decade or so who have PhDs are in physics and math (and outside of STEM, also philosophy and women's studies). One friend of mine with her Physics PhD is female. The field looks to be largely male. Same with math and, oddly, philosophy (just talking anecdotally about people I know, and what I know of their colleagues). The women's studies professor is female.
I just hold the idea that it's a few bad apples and the vast majority are good. Let's say an asshole works in a company with a hundred people, him included, from the ages of 18 to 66 (retiring age in the UK). If it's a male dominated field, let's say twenty people working there are women. He only needs to harass one every two years or so for someone to say "Every woman at this workplace has faced sexual harassment". While a far-fetched example, I hope this makes sense and we can find a way to deal with people like that.
Just tell 'em what your experience is, what your research shows, and that it'd be nice if they joined the ranks because it'll be fun. FUN always wins 'em over.
