How can I encourage my daughters to consider traditionally male dominated careers?

[meinus]

I've been trying to expose my daughters to career areas that are traditionally male dominant. I wanted to share this video because I like how it simply shows a young woman 'as' an engineer and they liked the fun machine setting: www.youtube.com/watch?v=XppH0LJ7c4E
Has anyone seen any other good videos like this that I could show them?

How old are your daughters? Are they interested in Maths/Physics/DT?

This organisation might be of help.

However too much pressure can be off putting.

Why do you WANT to push them in that sort of direction? Surely, their tastes and abilities will guide where they feel they would like to go. And surely, these days, it is perfectly well known that ALL avenues are open to EVERYONE who is prepared to get appropriate qualifications, has a broad base to knowledge and skills, and develops VERY GOOD interview and 'people' skills.

surely its up to them

OP I think it's great that you want to ENCOURAGE your daughters to CONSIDER different careers. Doesn't sound like you're pushing them into anything to me.
Can't help you with alternative videos I'm afraid. Just didn't want you to feel misunderstood.

I think schools these days do a very good job of encouraging equality. DD (14) has far more feminist views than I do and isn't at all girly. She is arty, but is currently doing very well in maths and science, and we are encouraging her as much as we can to do well in those subjects.

What careers do you consider to be traditionally male into which women are not currently making inroads?

I think you should aim to encourage them to follow their own interests and play to their strengths. Whether that be engineering or professional ballerina. Support them, encourage and facilitate where possible so that when they get there, its where they want to be and not because their parent wanted to fulfil some political agenda.

Strong role models - do you know any women in STEM careers in real life you could introduce them to?

Stem is knee deep in women now - apart from ISVR and a few bits of electronic engineering.

I'm interested to know what OP considers to be male careers

If you want your DDs to be encouraged in all areas of the curriculum, yet free to make their own decisions, educate them in a single sex school. The uptake of STEM subjects is higher.

Knee deep?

Hardly.

Women are still massively under represented in STEM careers.

OP, fill them with confidence, talk about science and show them women in lots of different jobs. If you take a positive approach, they're more likely to follow, but imho, it's a drip drip thing rather than showing a single video.

MaryMother
If you look at the under 30's its rebalancing remarkably fast
yes there is still a rump at the top which reflects what was happening 20 years ago
in 20 years time it will look very different

BUT
I'd still like to know what careers are male

Only 13% of the STEM workforce is female so I'm pleased you think it's changing quickly but I certainly wouldn't be complacent, there's a long way to go.

Link please

here you go

I did a STEM degree 20 years ago and my class was approx 40% female. Not one of the women I graduated with is still working in the industry. I don't believe it's a simple case of men used to dominate STEM, so now there is an uneven split because of old men. Girls drop STEM subject at a higher rate than boys, and more women leave STEM careers than men.

If you look at the under 30's its rebalancing remarkably fast
yes there is still a rump at the top which reflects what was happening 20 years ago in 20 years time it will look very different.

Um, no, it's not, that's the point of equality actions in STEM. In academia the numbers of women in STEM drop off very sharply at both postgraduate and postdoctoral level. By the age of 30 we are already down to around 10-20% women in maths, physics and engineering. The same pattern is repeated outside academia in many STEM related jobs (whether in industry or in finance, e.g. quantitative analysts).

In my own research field, a highly competitive field with very few positions, less than 5% are female, and the number of women at the top is even smaller. There is still direct and indirect discrimination against women and other minorities.

My parents put subtle but nonetheless very real pressure on my to go into male-dominated careers, even 20-some years ago, and it caused real problems to me in the end. I ended up with all sorts of compromises trying to please them and still keep some of who I was, but none of it worked very well, and I lost any sense of what I really wanted. Even as I ended up moving away a bit from science to other things, I found it hard not to still look down on myself and my choices, because those views were so ingrained. And the hard part was, I was excellent at maths and science. I probably could have gone into those careers if I had been interested, and I know they thought I was wasting my skills because I didn't.

And yet they'd have never said they pressured me at all. They would pay lip service to the idea that all careers were fine, that one should pursue what would make one happy, but it was in the language, the subtle signals, the way they'd be positive about certain responses I made and neutral about others, etc - there was so much pressure. My sisters felt it too, and one had a mini-breakdown in the middle of her physics degree. They still try to refer to my job in as sciencey terms as they possibly can, and only seem proud of me when they do, and the overall effect has undermined my confidence hugely.

Please be careful that by promoting jobs that you think are under-represented by women, that you don't then devalue those jobs that are traditionally seen as women's roles, because if they then choose to go into those, your views will be obvious, whether you intend it or not.

by all means, counter sexism if you find it - if they are commenting that girls can't be doctors or engineers or whatever. But there's no need to push an agenda specifically.

Or do you just want people to watch the video?

I was the only girl in my sixth form and worked as practically the only woman in every workplace for the first 25 years of my career.

In the end though, I've admitted defeat and now work almost entirely with women, in a job that fits better with a family life. Although it was great, working with men for the first 10 years and I enjoyed the jobs and status, I'm way happier now than I was for the next 15.

So, if there's something male dominated your daughter really wants to do, then encourage her all the way, but don't push her that way just for the sake of your agenda, it won't make her happy. If it's that important to you, re-train and do it yourself.

Is this just a plug for the video in the OP?

"What careers do you consider to be traditionally male into which women are not currently making inroads?"

OH works in investment casting and there are very few women in that industry.

Uilen
I totally accept that Academia is further behind the curve than many.
But out in industry the worm is turning.

Certain jobs will always be male dominated - that is because they are ones that suit the testosterone brain better than the oestrogen one - eg investment banking.

Lets not deny reality, but also ensure that anybody can go into any field based on what they want rather than their parents perceptions.

Certain jobs will always be male dominated - that is because they are ones that suit the testosterone brain better than the oestrogen one - eg investment banking.

Oh dear. That old chestnut again. Out in industry the worm isn't turning, by the way - look at the actual data. (When I work as a consultant I almost never see any women.)

Lets not deny reality, but also ensure that anybody can go into any field based on what they want rather than their parents perceptions.

Right now, many women who want to go into some fields face massive discouragement and discrimination in doing so. (Not least people saying that they shouldn't because it "suits the testosterone brain better than the oestrogen brain".) The reason so many women quit my field, both in academia and related occupations outside it, is not because their brains aren't suited but because they are treated badly by the male majority in the field and discouraged by society to continue.

I think discrimination and discouragement for those women who are actually interested in STEM is a way bigger problem than people like OP trying to encourage their daughters to go for STEM careers when they don't want to. There is also a fine line between trying to overcome misconceptions and pushing. Many women don't look at engineering in particular because they have the wrong idea as to what it is (they think of it in terms of car mechanics) - when does giving information about what engineering actually is and where it could lead career-wise become pushing?

uilen
School friends of mine went into investment banking and loved it for a short time but then grew out of the playground mentality and moved to other fields
Yes, the mentality needs to change, but only regulation and legislation will do that

Outside academia, which fields do you think still discriminate against women?

There's always Ada Lovelace Day (in autumn) which provides good female role models for girls interested in STEM subjects, and organisations like LadyGeek and so on.

Since the overwhelming mass of info that kids get - from picturebooks onwards - push the idea that some jobs are men's jobs, and some are women's then it's good to have alternatives so girls can make something more approaching a free choice.

(I show my DS the "girls in STEM" stuff, because I don't want him - if he goes into a tech job, which is what he wants at the moment - to be one of the clueless men who make the tech working environment so uncomfortable for women that they leave it.)