by Andrew Caringi
Activists and educators are asking why the United States would deny visas to an all-girl robotics team that hoped to compete in an international competition.
The six teenage girls are from Afghanistan and had been planning their trip overseas for months. The students were intending to compete in FIRST Global Challenge, an international robotics contest in Washington, D.C.
FIRST Global is a not-for-profit charity that “organizes a yearly robotics challenge to ignite a passion for Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) among the more than two billion youths across the world.” With a visible lack of women’s representation in STEM industries, rejecting six female students from this opportunity is garnering heavy criticism.
The reasons for rejecting the all-girl team are also vague. Organizers say teams from Iran, Sudan, and Syria – countries that were on President Trump’s latest travel ban – were granted visas. Afghanistan was not on the list of banned countries, so it’s unclear why these girls cannot join a competition where students from nearly 160 countries will be represented.
To add insult to injury, the United States is allowing their robot in the country to enter the competition. The girls will now have to watch their ball-sorting robot compete via Skype. While the young innovators are clearly disappointed, they said they will continue to pursue careers in STEM. One student described it as a “clear insult” to their country but have vowed to pursue their dreams “to make a difference in peoples’ lives.”
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