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from the doesn't-stem-student's-interest dept.
Research into the obvious, but someone has finally done it: Three women researchers have studied the behavior of undergraduates in STEM fields, and concluded that there basically is no problem. From the abstract:
"The results show that high school academic preparation, faculty gender composition, and major returns have little effect on major switching behaviors, and that women and men are equally likely to change their major in response to poor grades in major-related courses. Moreover, women in male-dominated majors do not exhibit different patterns of switching behaviors relative to their male colleagues."
Furthermore current recruitment efforts to attract more women tend to be counterproductive. In an interview, the primary author says:
"Society keeps telling us that STEM fields are masculine fields, that we need to increase the participation of women in STEM fields, but that kind of sends a signal that it's not a field for women, and it kind of works against keeping women in these fields."
One of our female students told me that the women are interviewed endlessly, for one project or another: "tell us about your experience", "are you doing ok", "have you experienced sexism", and on, and on. That alone is enough to make them question their career choice.
(Score: 2) by Grishnakh on Friday September 08 2017, @02:21PM (7 children)
Fires are far more survivable in natural fiber clothing, than any plastic crap.
Surely this depends on the exact artificial fiber you're talking about; they vary wildly in their properties you know. Isn't Nomex an artificial fiber? Race car drivers are covered head-to-toe in that stuff. Maybe you should have production uniforms made of that stuff.
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Friday September 08 2017, @02:29PM (6 children)
Nomex is relatively high dollar - and people don't wear it to be fashionable. But, you're right, cotton isn't safer than ALL synthetics. Cotton is much safer than any popular synthetics sold at Wally World, or Fashion Bug, or any other stores frequented by fashion conscious young people.
(Score: 2) by Grishnakh on Friday September 08 2017, @02:47PM (2 children)
If you're working in a production plant where fire is actually a significant concern, then why doesn't the company invest in some uniforms for everyone to wear then? They can keep them at the plant and let people put them on before they start work, so the cost isn't borne by the employee, and the clothes can be reused as employees come and go. Fab workers at semiconductor plants don't have to buy their own bunny suits, for instance. It's not at all abnormal for manufacturing companies to have company-provided safety clothing for employees.
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Friday September 08 2017, @03:27PM (1 child)
The company won't invest in uniforms because people are disposable.
I remember a time when corporations declared that "People are our most valuable resource!" At that point in time, employers actually did try to make life better for employees, tried to make the work environment better, and tried to promote people based on merit. Those days are long gone. Today, people are as disposable as dirty socks. Globalization has achieved it's main mission!!
Oh, back to my own preferred dress code? From our current starting point, it would be pretty damned difficult to enforce such a dress code. For the wages production workers are paid, you can't expect people to run out and buy a new wardrobe. Some guy gets a job here, he's going to wear whatever he has in his closet, because we don't pay him enough to invest in different clothing.
Before I could reasonably expect people to conform to my dress code, I'd have to raise their pay by something in the range of 10%, AND introduce some minimal job security. Once I began to identify real "keepers" among the employees, then I'd have to give them some additional raises, to help ensure that I kept them. Hiring people at minimum wage pluse $1.00 doesn't attract "keepers", nor does it entice one who wanders in the door to stay. The wages only contribute to the high turnover.
(Score: 2) by Grishnakh on Friday September 08 2017, @03:44PM
Hiring people at minimum wage pluse $1.00 doesn't attract "keepers", nor does it entice one who wanders in the door to stay. The wages only contribute to the high turnover.
This reminds me of a girl I met on an online dating site years ago (we only exchanged messages, never met in person). She worked in HR for some retail chain, and complained about the quality of candidates they got for their near-minimum-wage jobs. I pointed out that such low pay isn't exactly going to attract the best people and maybe they should offer more. I never heard from her again.
After that, I never again entertained the possibility of dating someone who works in HR.
(Score: 1) by i286NiNJA on Friday September 08 2017, @06:02PM (2 children)
This isn't true. Almost all navy clothes are synthetics. They're designed to burn easily without sticking to your skin.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday September 08 2017, @11:12PM (1 child)
Citation needed.
(Score: 1) by i286NiNJA on Friday September 08 2017, @11:56PM
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uniforms_of_the_United_States_Navy [wikipedia.org]
Search the word polyester. Almost all these uniforms are polyester blend designed to burn easily without sticking to skin. It's not like there aren't millions of people who know this.