Robogals, from left, Stephanie Nguyen, Pallavi Sehgal and Yanny Li… “We’re giving girls a different perspective of what they can be in life.” Photo by Gary Schafer
“I used to be very curious but my parents saw it as breaking stuff and were not very happy with me!” she says.
Now Pallavi, 22, is part of Robogals, a small group of like-minded female students at the ANU whose focus is getting schoolgirls interested in engineering.
Third-year engineering student Pallavi is president of the ANU chapter of the student-led volunteer group that visits schools in a bid to increase the number of young women studying engineering, science and technology at uni.
“There are only about 20 per cent girls studying engineering at the ANU, and we think it should be so much more,” says Pallavi.
“I’m not a feminist or gender biased, but girls tend to grow up with pink and dolls, and don’t get introduced to engineering early on.
“We’re giving them a different perspective of what they can be in life. If you give girls an opportunity to see what engineering is like, I think many would be more interested and we wouldn’t have this problem in the first place.”
Pallavi says it’s not that girls aren’t capable of doing engineering, it’s just that they don’t know what the industry is like or that it’s worth considering as a career.
Fellow Robogal Stephanie Nguyen, 20, says she hadn’t even heard of engineering until she was in year 12, and would have loved to attend a Robogals workshop.
In the workshops the girls encourage the school students to have fun with the robots, but they also explain what engineers do, how the industry affects the world, and how varied, creative and collaborative it is, says Pallavi.
“We get instant feedback that girls think engineering is a dry subject, all about physics and maths, and that it’s really hard,” she says.
“That’s why the most crucial part of the workshop is the Engineering Chat section at the end, where we explain what it’s really like. We talk about how many different fields there are within the subject, how flexible it is, and how well it combines with other degrees.”
Second-year commerce and engineering student and Robogal Yanny Li, 20, says that when she became interested in engineering, people told her it was only for boys.
“Well, I’m proving them wrong!” she says. “I always thought, why can’t I be like boys, what’s the difference? I can be as smart as them.
“You need to have faith in yourself, but being a female in engineering can be an advantage to us – we stand out!”
Founded by undergraduate engineering student Marita Cheng at the University of Melbourne, Robogals now includes chapters in Sydney, Brisbane, Perth, New York, Canada, Tokyo and the UK.
Although boys are welcome at the school workshops, the Robogals focus their efforts primarily on how many girls they get to teach.
Pallavi says she’s keen to shift Robogals’ focus to secondary schools and college students.
“We figured we can have more of an impact on year 11 and 12 students, as they’re closer to making those decisions about what they want to study,” she says.
Pallavi also wants to increase the Robogals seven-strong volunteer base, by organising more events on campus, and encouraging sponsors so the other students can see the long-term benefits of being a volunteer.
“It’s so good for us too, learning leadership skills and public speaking, which will pay off in the future,” she says.
“I’m third year now so I’ve passed through the stage of learning applied engineering, and we’re learning that engineering is not about working individually – teamwork is very important.”
Pallavi says they’ve already seen results from doing their workshops – one girl they visited when she was in year 12 is now studying engineering at ANU and working as a Robogals volunteer.
“It’s a very good feeling; when we can see it happening, that we’re making a difference,” she says.
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