Role models are important

Posted on June 4, 2012 by Tammy Butow

Update: Please head over to http://rolemodelsareimportant.com to see the project.

I was speaking to Giselle Rosman and Rebecca Fernandez about what we can do to encourage more girls to choose to study and work with technology. The research all shows that girls do not have role models. So what can we do about this?

We are going to create a short video featuring photos of women from all over the world who work with technology.

Please send in a landscape photo of yourself (see below), holding a piece of paper with your name and what you do on it. These photos will be collected and a video will be created that will be showcased at the Go Girl event June 18-19. The video will also be shared on a mini-site and through YouTube.

Please send all photos to tammybutow@gmail.com by June 14 (5pm Melbourne time). I need to send over the final video to the Go Girl team by midnight June 14.

♥ Tammy

Updates

♥ Thanks to Anna Tito (Programmer & Game Designer) for being the first to send in a photo!

♥ Wondering what kind of roles we are looking to showcase? The girls that are attending Go Girl are in years 8-11 and most do not know what careers are available. Did what you do exist when you were in year 8? I make HTML5 mobile apps for iPhone, Android and BlackBerry.. that sure didn’t exist when I was in year 8. Let’s showcase a range of different careers…any roles where students could study a course or degree in technology and it would benefit them. It can be something you do for money, or something you do for fun or as part of your volunteering.  If having knowledge of technology helps you in what you do – then please send in your photo!

♥ Big thanks to Chris from BlackBerry who has organised to donate BlackBerry PlayBooks for students. We will be running an app making competition for the students at Go Girl!

♥ We will also have a list of women who are involved on the mini-site, and a link to their Twitter profile. This will enable girls to find out more about our role models. 

♥ I’ve collected 25 photos of role models so far. Thanks to everyone getting involved! It would be great to get 100! I’m going to keep collecting pics till June 14, and will share the finished video on June 17. 

♥ If you went to high school in Australia, but you are now working overseas – please send in your pic! The students who attend Go Girl are interested in finding out about different career paths… and it will be great to include your photo in this project!

♥ I’ve had a lot of requests from people who aren’t from Australia that want to get involved, especially from women who have lived all over the world. I’m opening this up to all women who work with tech! Please send in your photo by June 14.

 

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  • Joanne Jacobs

    Will follow all instructions above when i get back home – currently in Melbourne on business but back in Sydney late tomorrow. Cheers, Joanne Jacobs

    • tammybutow

      Thanks Joanne, looking forward to getting your photos and adding it to the video!

  • http://twitter.com/MaryKateClark Marykate Clark

    There are more women entering the Video Game Industry and making names as developers, designers and more; some stand outs include Jane Jensen and Kim Swift. This year, Anna Kipnis of Double Fine made MOLYJAM Game Jam a reality out of nothing. Lets not just leave game designs and development to the boys. “Be the change you want to see in the world,” is the paraphrase of Gandhi that we need to live by. Consumers have power, but a world of influence lies with the developers, the designers, the animators, the programmers…. people in the driver’s seat.
    Girls need to realize they can make these things for themselves, envision what you want and then do it. Look at those who have done it and know that they were no different, but they dared to see things through first hand. 

    • tammybutow

      Fantastic! Let’s inspire girls and be role models. We can show them that they can make these things themselves and get involved. Would love to get some photos of women in the Video Game Industry! Australian developers, designers, testers, animators and more… that would be fantastic.

  • Cystemic

    woah, my name is Anna and I’m studying to be a games programmer, epic coincidence XD

    • tammybutow

      Can’t wait to see your pic too Anna! It will also be great for women all over Australia to meet and connect with each other. 

  • Rae

    Awesome! Will send in a pic upon my return from E3 :)

    • tammybutow

      Excellent, thanks so much Rae! :)

  • Jasmin Tragas

    hope to send in my pic tomorrow :)

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  • Emma Wilkinson

    Will send pic tomorrow great idea

    • tammybutow

      Thanks Emma, that would be great!

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  • Ange

    Hey Tammy – we had a mini photo-shoot in the office this morning, and will be sending you through a few pics later today!

    • tammybutow

      Thanks Ange, that’s really fantastic – thanks for your support :)

  • http://twitter.com/KathyReid Kathy Reid

    Hiya Tammy, sent you a link to a photo via Twitter/Flickr – let me know if you have any trouble. Have also spread the call out via social media and at work. Best wishes – what an awesome project. Kind regards, K.

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  • Darlene

    Will send you a pic tomorrow! I am the only technical female in my office and I would love to see more women involved in technology! Yay for doing this!!!!!! :)

  • Geekgrl

    Can you provide a link to information about the Go Girl event?

  • http://twitter.com/Leiralei ♥ Goddess Leira ♥

     I didn’t need a role model, I needed protection from becoming a victim of hate crimes due to wanting to have a career in technology.

    • julia_disqus

      I believe that it would be more important to give to BOYS role models that encourage them to see females as equal human beings. Irregardless of involvement in technology. For now, they are encouraged to take macho role models that support superiority. 

  • Alysa

    What fields do you include in “tech?” This could be a regional thing (I’m in the US). I have a number of lady friends who are engineers outside of computing–mostly chemical engineers. I’d love to be involved if we fit in your program!

    • tammybutow

      Hi Alysa, at the moment we have collected photos from game developers,game designers, software developers, software engineers, animators, network engineers… it’s pretty broad – with an aim to show the students the wide range of work they can do with technology. The aim of the event is to encourage students to study technology courses at uni. I’m not sure what courses there are in the US but in Australia we have technology courses such as the ones listed at this website… http://www.qut.edu.au/study/study-areas/study-information-technology – there are many double degrees available.. such as a bachelor of IT/bachelor of engineering (electrical). If you classify what you do as tech, then please send in your photo :)

  • http://twitter.com/colelundell Cole Lundell

    Sending a pic this afternoon, I hope we meet the deadline!

  • julia_disqus

    I made some little research of my own “engineering men and their role models when they were little boys”. 
    So, their role models were:
    1. non-engineering parents
    2. movie and sport stars
    3. scientists
    My own role model in high school (and I’m a female software developer) was a movie director (male!) because I was really fascinated about making movies. Luckily, my family members and school teachers persuaded me to follow something that suited my talents. I would’ve made very mediocre movies. 

    I see 2 problems that young girls face:
    1. their talents are not recognized, or less recognized as boys’. A talented child should be recognized and distinguished among their peers, not like “we should praise every child, and encourage them to choose whatever we see most suitable [for males, for females, for their teaches and mass media, because uncle Bob thinks so...]“, science and engineering fields included. 
    2. the problem gets shifted further as girls are assumed to have different needs then boys.  Such as, do boys need to look at photos of [who? Bill Gates?] to start playing with technologies? 

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=678154327 Brenda Wallace

    So — it’s June 19 –  Do you still want photos? 

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=678154327 Brenda Wallace

    (this could become a great resource for other speakers)