BSGU (Bowling Green State University) Let Girls Learn (link here) is "a theatre class project aimed at raising awareness about girls' education around the world. As part of our 'take action' campaign, we hope to share the stories of young women from around the world who have experienced successes and/or barriers to their education. We are looking for women willing to tell of their experience through video and written forms."
And Let Girls Learn (link here) is a United States government initiative to ensure adolescent girls around the world get the education they deserve. Launched by the President and First Lady in March 2015, Let Girls Learn "brings together the Department of State, the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), the Peace Corps, and the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC), as well as other agencies and programs like the U.S. President’s Emergency Fund for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), to address the range of challenges preventing adolescent girls from attaining a quality education that empowers them to reach their full potential. Let Girls Learn combines the necessary political will, diplomacy, grassroots organizing, and development expertise to create lasting change."
The story I provided to BSGU Let Girls Learn:
My name is Lauren, and I grew up in the suburbs of Philadelphia. Fairly conservative area, but despite that no one in my family or in my school fed me any of the stereotypes associated with being a woman in engineering. I just knew I liked math better than English, so I took the AP math and AP physics courses. For AP Physics in particular, I did notice that there were more boys in the class than girls, but didn't really think about it. In my junior year, the AP Physics teacher had the opportunity to send some students for free to an engineering camp at Widener University. Some male and some female students were selected, myself included, and I have no memory of the camp putting any focus on gender. There were definitely male and female students in all of my classes, there wasn't any special seminar for the girls, and everyone had fun and learned things and made friends.
At that camp I had the most fun building circuits, so I decided to go to college for Electrical Engineering (which, at Lafayette College, ended up being Electrical and Computer Engineering). The ONLY inkling I had before starting college that my chosen path was abnormal was my father saying "this is what you want to do?" while taking a tour.
But then I got to college and oh man, was I an anomaly. I was the only female ECE student in my year, and there were no females the year above me and no females the year below me. For someone who is very shy and likes to fade into the background, this was a bit uncomfortable. It's kind of hard to hide when you are the only person on the entire floor with boobs. I definitely got discouraged while at school (and still do at my web developer job) when I couldn't figure something out, because I felt like (and feel like) I'm proving a point about my gender. Whereas if one of the guys struggles, it only reflects him.
Me being the only girl on the floor (and even today, one of the few females in my company) definitely forced me to develop a thick skin. Not that anyone was mean, but more that they didn't realize how an easy joke could make me second guess myself. Like joking that I didn't belong in Computer Engineering because I didn't play video games like the rest of them. It's true. I don't fit the stereotype. The few females that were Computer Science majors blended in more. They played video games, they wore jeans and t-shirts, they watched shows like Archer and Adventure Time... I wear dresses. My laptop is pink. My favorite shows are New Girl and The Mindy Project. I haven't played a video or computer game since middle school. But none of that has anything to do with my ability to code.
If I had known going into it that my very existence in this computer science world would be such an event, I'm not sure I would have done it. I didn't want to be the center of attention. I didn't want to have to make sure to be in the lab during Saturday tours so they could show people I existed. But if I could do it all over again, I still would. I've had to grow a lot as a person, which was good for me.
But I fear that other girls are discouraged from even entering this coding world because they don't fit the part. So I'm trying to do MY part to change the narrative. Still figuring out the details of the "how", but I did start my Facebook and Instagram: it's Had Me @ Hello World (@hadmeathelloworld). To show that you can watch romantic comedies by night and develop software by day!
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