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Gratitude 2/2/2017

Thursday, February 02, 2017

Today I'm grateful for AAUW aauw.org , my great group of women friends. AAUW is an advocacy group for women and girls. Right now I'm involved in planning for a lego group for girls called "Girl Powered Engineering Using Lego" that we're partnering with Microsoft and PlayWell TEKnologies play-well.org to put on. It will be a whole afternoon of creating motorized lego creatures, just for girls.

Growing up in New York City I went to an all girls Jr High/High School that helped us excel in Science and Math. It set the stage for me to get into engineering where I can make a great salary and do exciting things. When I started here back in the 80's I was a lone female in a sea of men. We do much better now but my school experience gave me the confidence that I needed to succeed. I don't know how I would have fared if I had to compete with boys as a pre-teen. AAUW helps to further things like that.

My branch of AAUW sends dozens of girls to Stanford University Science Camp every year, raises money for legal advocacy for Pay Equity cases to close the salary gap between men and women and for rape cases, and other legal cases that plague women. We have book groups that read books about amazing women and by women authors. AAUW has lots of other social infrastructure. I have a lot of fun with my friends from AAUW.
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Member Comments About This Blog Post
  • PMRUNNER
    Sounds like a great program to help encourage women to pursue opportunities in STEM fields. Thank you for sharing!
    1534 days ago
  • DONNALEE-53
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    1535 days ago
  • HAYBURNER1969
    Thanks for this blog! I never knew about this organization, and my 15yo daughter would like to be an engineer someday. I discovered we have a chapter in the city near which we live. I am glad she is growing up in an age where she feels she has the opportunity to pursue any career she wants and glad that there are organizations like this one to help further equality.
    1535 days ago
  • no profile photo CD4114015
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    1536 days ago
  • THOMS1
    Thank you for this blog very interesting and informative. emoticon emoticon
    1536 days ago
  • JEANKNEE
    My mother was so ahead of her time. I so love her for purchasing toys like Tonka trucks, Hot Wheels, and model rockets for me as a little girl and not forcing me to play with dolls ... for allowing me to climb trees, dig holes, stomp in the mud, build tree forts, build stilts, build bug houses, farm ants and so many other things considered inappropriate for little girls. And, trust me, she caught plenty of flak for allowing me to behave in such an inappropriate manner.

    I can still remember how thrilled I was when the laws changed and I was allowed to wear pants to school and no longer forced to wear dresses. I could finally, freely, play! Being forced to wear dresses really inhibited our physical activity on the playground. I hated it!

    Thank you for your work supporting and nurturing the interests of those girls interested in the sciences.
    1536 days ago
  • DOVESEYES
    Wonderful, thanks for that :)
    1536 days ago
  • KELLIEBEAN
    What a great example being sent for young girls. More power to you and the AAUW!

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    1536 days ago
  • PATRICIA-CR
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    1536 days ago
  • GRACED777
    Thank you for this.It is great to see women being lifted up into places God wants them!
    1536 days ago
  • REDROBIN47
    Sounds like a great group and I'm happy that the younger generations of girls have so many more opportunities than us older generations. Girls weren't even really encouraged to go to college after high school like they are now and I'm so happy things are becoming more equal between men & women.
    1536 days ago
  • AALLEY2
    emoticon emoticon This is very good to read! I am grateful that you are doing this. It is so much needed everywhere. emoticon
    1536 days ago
  • CTYONIT
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    1536 days ago
  • DAWNDMOORE40
    emoticon for sharing! Lots of great information! I used to be a site coordinator at a school that taught enrichment classes to girls and boys. It was fun and a way for them to stay out of trouble! My Son wants to go on and do something with engineering but not sure what yet. I think it's great that girls get the same chances has boys! Everyone deserves a chance to be the best they can be! emoticon emoticon emoticon
    1537 days ago
  • IAMAGEMLOVER
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    1537 days ago
  • THEBLONDEGENIUS
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    1537 days ago
  • LYNCHD05
    i too remember when women were expected to do the admin jobs and leave the tough careers for the men. You are one amazing lady to lead these young girls into a field once dominated by men.
    I have known you for awhile here, but never knew this about you. Now I am even more impressed!!!
    1537 days ago
  • LYNCHD05
    I love hearing things like this thst are breaking the stereotype. I too re,ember when girls were expected to do the admin type jobs and leave the "hard" subjects for the men! We have come a long way baby!
    1537 days ago
  • 2BDYNAMIC
    How excellent it is to see you broke ground in a male dominated territory!..... wonderful work you do .

    1537 days ago
  • 50YEARSAWIFE
    Thanks for sharing.
    1537 days ago
  • MISSDORKNESS
    That Lego groups sounds so cool!!!

    I started working in Engineering (MEP) and then moved into software development after I realized how much easier my job was with customizing software and properly managing engineering data so it is queryable. Anyway, I work with so many smart, open-minded men... who just do not understand how women are treated differently. 'girls love pink stuff and dolls and don't like math'. Um, some do. Others of us had to play with them because that's what people expected.
    It was only 2 years ago I almost gave a piece of my mind to some adults in the Lego store, complaining that an 8yo girl wanted Legos and seeing it as a sign of the end times. ~eyeroll~ My first paycheck in engineering was spent on gas, food and a bucket of Legos because I never had them growing up. WHY are we still discouraging our girls from doing awesome technical jobs!?!?!

    And, I do a salary survey every year for engineering... steady ~12% pay gap (based on a 40 hour workweek, so overtime is not a factor) over the entire 15 years this survey has run.

    Anyway, I had the downtalk in high school and college from instructors who treated us differently than the males in the class, and I still get ignored in a lot of meetings (it's been better in software development than it was in construction, sorry to say).

    Props to everyone who ensures that our next generation of girls knows how much they can excel.
    I spread the technical love as much as I can with the young ladies in my life.
    1537 days ago
  • WATERMELLEN
    Wonderful!!! I'm Canadian but it's great to hear about these initiatives south of the border.
    1537 days ago
  • SLENDERELLA61
    Good blog! I remember well. My husband was an engineer and even 25 years ago when I said to one of hubby's bosses that I would love for my daughter to become an engineer, he dismissed me saying, "Women have no place in engineering."
    1537 days ago
  • NELLJONES
    I remember when "Help Wanted" ads were separated by Men and Women. (And by White and Colored.) We have come a long way since the 60s!
    1537 days ago
  • KMW987
    What a great organization! You are awesome for volunteering! I wish I had something to motivate me more with math & science - I dropped science as soon as I could and struggled through math (parents made me take it). I totally regretted it when I decided to do a double major in psychology. If we only knew then what we know now! You are doing amazing work for those girls!
    1537 days ago
  • BROOKLYN_BORN
    How did I miss all this about you?

    NYC? Much later than me. Back in my day there was Brooklyn Tech but it was all male.
    I majored in Math at Queens College in the 60s

    My DD#2 is an engineer, but even in the early 90s there was resistance from the old guard professors, one of whom actually told her that women had no business being engineers.

    I used to teach an after-school and summer school class for girls in computer science which the administration originally called "Girls on Line" Didn't take long for them to realize THAT mistake.
    1537 days ago
  • KATHYJO56
    How refreshing to read about a blog from a young woman who is going to go far in this world and has found the motivation that you need. emoticon
    1537 days ago
  • EGRAMMY
    This is an informative and outstanding blog. Thank you!
    1537 days ago

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