Less than a month ago, I was asked by one of my coworkers to speak to her daughter's Brownie Girl Scout troop about being a female engineer. I was there to inspire them to think about non-traditional careers for women. Apparently, with my sparkly hair, "cool" clothes, and fun hobbies, I'm the epitome of awesomeness for the ten-to-eleven year old set.
The girls heard about my challenges. I was blunt about how sexism can still exist in male-dominated careers, but also told them that it's getting better. I told them about how the women in my workplace lean on each other to work though the unique challenges of just being us. And I told them that, as women, their viewpoints are valid, unique, valuable, and important.
When I was done with my talk and mock brainstorming session, some of those girls were really energized and inspired by the idea of engineering. (in fact, one of the girls told her teacher and now I'm going to be speaking her class about engineering...) They didn't know how much creativity plays into product design. As much fun and creativity, sometimes, as writing. (See? See how I brought this around? Mwahaha!)
When I spoke about my "hobbies" to the girls, especially writing, my talk planted a question in my head that's been bothering me ever since. I talk a good game about inspiring girls to think about traditionally "male" careers, but what do the moms in my stories do for a living? What do the girls dream about becoming when they're older?
Careers aren't the center of a story. Sometimes,they're just tiny mentions... but mentions that can still carry an unconscious bias. When we write, we have a chance to subtly tell that girl who is interested in science "yes, you exist. And you can do amazing things."
Inspire. Lead. Guide. Don't forget the non-traditional as a career option. Make the mom an engineer, computer scientist, astronaut, mathematician. Let your female characters love science class. The subtle can be more important than we realize.
Oh, hey, this makes me feel all kinds of good for the sister in my WIP who works as an engineer. She's a major part of the story too :)
ReplyDeleteNow that I think about it, this might be the first YA where I talk about what careers family members or MCs want. (This might just mean that my default moms and dads are teachers and engineers, respectively, as my parents were, and I don't bother paying attention to it, lol). But here I have one set of parents who works for a biotech company and the sister as well, a set of (granted, imaginary) parents who are undefined consultants, a girl who wants to study to fight for civil rights, a girl who clearly is going to grow up to be a computer engineer, a girl who wants to design houses, and a girl who's a spy. So kinda a variety there. *is proud* (Also, most of my boys are living for their girlfriends, but that's a different story.)
Yay!!!! Soooooo happy to hear about engineering sisters :), especially since I LOVE the teasers that you've been posting for "Taylor Made." And for career diversity. I think we need more of that in YA.
Delete(And now that you've mentioned that you're the product of a teacher and an engineer... I'm definitely cheering for a fellow EK-- "engineer's kid")
Very cool! I am simply not an engineer-type (to my father's chagrin), but I think it's great that women are learning to recognize such talent in themselves and apply it! And...now I will go back to worrying about my own nebulous career path.
ReplyDeleteI wasn't the engineer-type, but my dad didn't quiiiiite agree. Luckily, I found a niche that inspired me (thank goodness!) I was so proud of the girls in that scout troop when they started getting into the brainstorming and asking great questions about everything-- even the ones who were pretty adamant about not wanting anything to do with math or science :) I think that creativity is universal and that we're uniquely positioned (if we're lucky enough to get published) to inspire kids to shine.
Delete(And nebulous can be good!)
Loved this post! I have three girls and I'm ALWAYS telling them not to let anyone put their career choices in a box. When my mom was young, she was told "You can be a nurse, a teacher, a nun(ugh) or a secretary!" Thank God we have moved beyond that...
ReplyDeleteBTW, I just tagged you in the Lucky 7 meme. (I think) Tagging skills I lack. Info Tech (IT) was obviously not a career choice for me! LOL.
You're awesome for telling your girls that! There have been some pretty depressing statistics coming out lately that really point to how much self esteem and what they hear from others influence how girls see their ability to complete tasks. (Woah, huge run on sentence that makes no sense! EEP) I'm so glad that a girl nowadays can be anything she wants to be... and that groups like Girl Scouts and their STEM initiative (helping girls to work towards careers in science, technology, engineering, and math) are fighting for girls to have these choices!
DeleteAwww... and thank you for the tag *giant hug*!