Minority Representation in Robotics

Happy New Year!  New year...new discoveries begin along with revisiting old ones with a goal to conquer them whether its to become more organized, more efficient or build better relationships.  Mine- to be more organized and to achieve goals that still need to be accomplished.  In my reflection I begin to  wonder what will it take to increase female representation in robotics- especially robotics leagues.  Even more, when will our robotic leagues become more culturally and ethnically integrated.    Not just all African American or all Caucasian or all female or all male. I even struggle at times with my after school programs being ethnically diverse and accepting of female contributions. What efforts are being made to do the prior and not just the later.  Perhaps it is in how, where and to whom we market our robotic endeavors to.  Are we making it accessible by removing barriers such as transportation, instructional success so that we are not competing with extra tutoring sessions, or financial support for competitions/leagues?  Are other activities such as boy scouts or basketball competing for our attention? Also, it is how we treat them once they are a member?  Do we give them more support if needed?  Do we build the skills for appreciating other cultures, ethnic groups and genders before they are blended?  All questions may need to be addressed.  We want our groups to best represent industry...or at least model what they should look like.  Not all of one is "it".  Everyone has something to contribute and having a different perspective allows our creations serve a better market place in real world scenarios.  Lets rise up to the challenge.  Lets see how much success is achieved attempting to complete this goal.  If you have any solutions that worked well...please share.  Happy New Year!