Chicks in FSAE

[Blonde Fox]

I am writing a paper on the stereotypes at SAE shops across the country. I would like to know how many girls are working at your shop and what they do. For example do you have a couple girls that belong to your club but they mainly work with business and the administrative things or do they work on the car. What I want to know is how many girls do you have in your club that actually work on the SAE car.

Also I would like to know how these girls are treated. Do you treat them like one of the guys or do you treat them like they have no idea what they are doing?

I know this has been asked before but it was a really old thread and I need some more recent information.

Thanks for all of the help! http://fsae.com/groupee_common/emoticons/icon_smile.gif

[Blonde Fox]

I am writing a paper on the stereotypes at SAE shops across the country. I would like to know how many girls are working at your shop and what they do. For example do you have a couple girls that belong to your club but they mainly work with business and the administrative things or do they work on the car. What I want to know is how many girls do you have in your club that actually work on the SAE car.

Also I would like to know how these girls are treated. Do you treat them like one of the guys or do you treat them like they have no idea what they are doing?

I know this has been asked before but it was a really old thread and I need some more recent information.

Thanks for all of the help! http://fsae.com/groupee_common/emoticons/icon_smile.gif

[The AFX Master]

We have two girls on chief positions, Brakes and ergonomy/aero, Also 2 more, on public relations and suspension.

Last year we had almost 8. Some related to tech issues on the car.

[vsanchez]

Im a girl working in the shop, so I can tell you some stuff. Well, at the beggining they are cool and normal, after you gain some time with them, then you became one of the "guys", you hear each and every discusting stuff they are talking about,you also know what they truly think about some girls, and there is the typical relationships and hookups.
But in general I´ve been treated well, I have nothing to complaint about. They make jokes and stuff, but nothing unusual or disrespectful.
it would be really stupid not treating well a girl if you need people working on the car, and future people to stay in the team. Plus, you need some eye candy!! hahahahaha you are around with the same guys 24/7,and you push away the girls of your team?? Not very smart for an engineer =).

(sorry if I misspelled something)

[flavorPacket]

We have one girl on our team. Naturally she does the cost report/business stuff, but she's also in charge of driver controls/ergo. She has no idea what she's doing, and is treated exactly the same as any other member who has no idea what he's doing.

We certainly do NOT treat her as one of the guys. We make FAR too many sexist jokes in the shop to ever expose a female to that level of bigotry.

[MikeDutsa]

Our team is twelve percent female. One of them is our VP. She handles the cost report and all the school related paperwork, RSO, travel stuff, the whole nine yards. The other one just joined the marketing/ fund raising team, she works on the car as well. The shop is definatly a little more PC when the girls are arond, but for the most part they just fit right in with the rest of us.

[js10coastr]

...just to brag, my formula hybrid team is almost 1/4 female http://fsae.com/groupee_common/emoticons/icon_smile.gif

[RiNaZ]

that's about the same with Dartmouth and FIT (Florida Inst. of Tech) i think. Im guessing there are more female in electrical than in mechanical. Embry-Riddle F-Hybrid has at least 2 girls in the team.

[js10coastr]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by RiNaZ:
that's about the same with Dartmouth and FIT (Florida Inst. of Tech) i think. Im guessing there are more female in electrical than in mechanical. Embry-Riddle F-Hybrid has at least 2 girls in the team. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

So you're saying it's going to be a babe fest in New Hampshire in May?

[RiNaZ]

I dont know about that ... female yes, babe ... well, that's too big of a word to define http://fsae.com/groupee_common/emoticons/icon_biggrin.gif

[JamesWolak]

Since i am posting under my real name i guess i have to be kinda careful.

We have two females on our team and of the most part they are involved in the things "that you would expect." One is our PR/business person, and the other is on our body team. To say the least they are not my favorite team members and don't contribute much.

Our business one does bug us from time to time to see if "we need help around the lab" and to be honest we avoid this. This is only because we have less then 100 days left and she is now asking this. We have male members like this and it's the same story. At this point or any point i am not going to take the time to walk anyone through everything and then have them contribute nothing to the team.

We did have a female team leader back in 2001 (don't qoute the year) and from what i can tell she was good. She even published SAE papers.

[billywight]

Enough talk, where are the pictures?

[flavorPacket]

billy, uh, we don't go to school in southern california...

[inamo]

It's a while since I did FSAE so I don't know if my story will be useful to you or not.

Racing became a massive part of my life during my time at Leeds Univeristy, in my first year I was a general gofer and sheet metal worker, I went to the FSAE and Formula Student competitions that year.

In my second year I was allowed to use the lathes and ended up doing the majority of the turning for our suspension and chassis inserts, often working 'til 3am plus all the usual car prep. I was also put in charge of the presentation for FSAE Australasia and Formula Student we earnt our best scores ever from that. I also made my first and only competitive debut in the Skid-pad event.

For my final year I was voted in as team captain, and looked after the final drive for the car. We had something of a nightmare year due to changes in the department and funding, however it all came together in the end and we had a successful event.

Throughout my time there were 2 girls on the team, I think on the whole we were treated as "one of the guys" both worked incredibly hard, pulling the all nighters with everyone else, I loved every minute of it. For sure there was the normal banter, but I think we gave back as good as we got.

Since then I did the MSc in Motorsport Engineering and Management at Cranfield uni, and hooked up with Team West-Tec for my thesis. I got involved with their team as a junior engineer and won 2 oval championships with them in 2005 and 2006. Last year I ran data for them for a club FFord Championship, and this year will be data engineering for a 4 car team in Spanish F3. They're a fantastic team, really professional people though many are volunteers.

For 2006/2007 I also worked as a mechanic for a GT team in British / Spanish GT and Le Mans, all amazing experiences (we finished both years and were 4th at Le Mans in 2007), but a completely different team structure. I got a lot of responsibility on the car, but never felt fully accepted by the rest of the crew.

Good luck with all that you're doing, FSAE was a fantastic opportunity and I can honestly say it changed my life - I've had some fantastic experiences since I've graduated that I wouldn't have got without my experience as a student.

[inamo]

I forgot to add that I combine all that with a full time job with an OEM..... working as an engineer :-)

[skillet]

thats hot http://fsae.com/groupee_common/emoticons/icon_smile.gif

[Robert_USM]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by billywight:
Enough talk, where are the pictures? </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Thanks for this post it made me laugh for ages.

We have a few girls on the team, some on the PR side and some on the electrical side. But they have all been in the workshop to help build things.

[Blonde Fox]

Hey guys! Thank you for all of your help. My paper was very successful the Professor enjoyed it a lot!

Once again thanks for the help!

[Brian Barnhill]

One of our Co-Captains is a female, she is also the lead of our aero design (body, wings, diffuser, etc).

She is actually the LEAST P.C. in our shop...

She is also my girlfriend and we've had quite a few arguments over the cars, much to the amusement of the others in the shop. I will have the last laugh when a certain Enzo Ferrari quote magically shows up on her wings!

[ben]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by inamo:
and this year will be data engineering for a 4 car team in Spanish F3. They're a fantastic team, really professional people though many are volunteers.
</div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Hiya.

Nice gig with West-Tec. Gavin Wills seems like a good guy, he's of course engineering the Essex Porsche in LMS on Dunlop. They always seem to do a good job though in all the Formulae they compete in. Hope you like our F3 rubber BTW :-)

Ben

[inamo]

Hi Ben,

Yep should be a good season, they won the class B championship last year. Gavin's very switched on, doesn't miss much. Will you be working with him in LMS? We've got Jeff Goodliffe working with us too, he's a very valuable "old wise guy" learnt a lot about tyres from him in the oval days. First test just over a week away, off to the workshop tomorrow to dyno a load of dampers and get new lap tops up and running for the F3 data.

Have you got any data for the F3 rubber? Would be grateful for anything you can share - think you should still have my e-mail address?

Helen

[Superfast Matt McCoy]

It's been my experience that the ladies on the team that don't want to be treated like they don't know anything just because they're a girl, usually don't know anything. They talk about how awesome they are and how much they know, and expect to get handed a big project. Of course half the guys go "ebuhdebudebuhdokay" and then someone else had to finish the project when crunch time comes. Then there are the ladies that show up, learn and work hard. They end up being treated like any member because they took the same path as everyone else.

You encounter the same problems with guys too. The new member forms should have a question that says:

I think I should immediately be a respected team member because I:
a)Am a blond fox
b)Race dirt bikes
c)Own a bitchin' Camero
d)No thanks, I'll learn and work hard like everyone else.

a, b, and c answers go it the "sweep the shop floor" pile.

[ben]

Helen - should be an email on the way

Ben

[holidome]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by js10coastr:
...just to brag, my formula hybrid team is almost 1/4 female http://fsae.com/groupee_common/emoticons/icon_smile.gif </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

A 1/4 female ... but then you would have to work on a formula hybrid car... and you know how i know you're gay?

[AmandaG]

I have been involved in FSAE for 4 years now, our team usually has a few girls, mostly doing business/management stuff. I myself do mostly that kind of stuff and am doing my thesis on project management, but this is because it is what i want to do, not because i can't do design, I helped with chassis and composites in my first few years and do help with assembly/build when I can. however we also have a chick on our team this year who is basicaly head of the engine team (long story), she is brilliant. None of us UQ girls have ever had a problem with sexism or anything, we are all just team mates working on an awesome project!

[nzgenette]

How can you get more girls on the team?! I am so grateful to have two other girls around and wish there were more to help even things out. Is it just because girls aren't into this kind of thing? Have any teams actively tried to recruit females (to the team..) or did they just come by their own accord?

[Jerry Lee]

We had a couple of girls interested at each of our showing events, but most of them don't follow through. I think it is the combination of two factors.. one being the low number of female engineering students, two being the relatively low number of girls into cars. Having those two factors line up with all the other things that make a team member (dedication, knowledge, willingness to learn, passion, etc etc) makes it hard to find girls on the team.

Our only female member had to leave the team for the spring semester. She was our secretary and took care of a lot of things; ESPECIALLY helpful when I'd forget things or do them in the wrong order..

[Klementina]

There is a decent amount of girls curious about motorpsorts but it usually all ends with just curiosity.I almost did the same thing...imagine the first time i walked in to a team meeting...all guys and they all knew each other...now i know they where as scared of me as i was of them,but back then they just looked like a bunch of friends having a good time not wanting to be interrupted... then came the getting hit on...that usually ends in 2-3 attempts and life in the shops goes back to building a car...all this being said there were 2 of us on the team last year...the other chick was a moron so she got kicked off...and i was one of the co-captains...conclusion:just try to be welcoming to anyone trying to join in the first place and also keep in mind most girls haven't worked on their cars growing up (we like barbies)so it might be a bit harder for us to understand when you ask for a part we have absolutely no clue what it is...

[lwontrop]

not all girls like barbies...

http://fsae.com/groupee_common/emoticons/icon_smile.gif

[PuJa]

I completely agree with Klementina - girls rarely have grown up with working on cars, and they join the team because they are interested in learning, just like I was.

I have been on our team for 3 years now, and after this year will have been on the team longer than anyone ever has in our Uni. It was very difficult and intimidating at first (especially coming in as a first year), but once you are around guys all the time, you get used to it.

I accept I have to put up with a fair amount of abuse, but it's only because they have no other female to tease! If anything it just makes you stronger, and you just have to laugh at some guys who are ignorant and threatened by girls who will prove to be better than them!

They're not all bad though! http://fsae.com/groupee_common/emoticons/icon_biggrin.gif

[Klementina]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by lwontrop:
not all girls like barbies...

http://fsae.com/groupee_common/emoticons/icon_smile.gif </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

i liked barbies...and i was team captain last year...http://fsae.com/groupee_common/emoticons/icon_smile.gif