Monday, June 22, 2015

STEM, Women and Gender Stereotypes

Original Venture Beat article:
http://venturebeat.com/2015/06/20/are-girl-focused-engineering-toys-reinforcing-gender-stereotypes/


Another useful perspective on STEM, women and gender stereotypes from

Are Girl-Focused Engineering Toys Reinforcing Gender Stereotypes?

theodp writes:
VentureBeat's Ruth Read casts a skeptical eye at current rage of toy segregation meant to inspire tomorrow’s leaders in STEM: "Toys geared at girls serve to get them interested in coding and building when they’re young, hopefully inspiring their educational interests down the road. But these gendered toys may be hurting women by perpetuating a divide between men and women." Read concludes, "Ultimately, girls (who will become women) are going to have to learn and work in a world where genders are not segregated; as will men. That means they need to learn how to interact with one another as much as they need to be introduced to the same educational opportunities. If STEM education is as much for girls as it is for boys, perhaps we should be equally concerned with getting boys and girls to play together with the same toys and tools, as we are with creating learning opportunities for girls."

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