tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5447608397823343035.post3667143264395354879..comments2023-06-04T10:35:34.543-04:00Comments on Linux Advocates: What Feminism has to do with Software FreedomUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5447608397823343035.post-87141768156354613382013-02-14T23:53:18.804-05:002013-02-14T23:53:18.804-05:00@Alex McFerron: And thank you for the kind words!@Alex McFerron: And thank you for the kind words!nandayhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12932916347517526430noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5447608397823343035.post-74314359317916581242013-02-12T12:49:24.662-05:002013-02-12T12:49:24.662-05:00thank you for this. beautiful post. I'm seeing...thank you for this. beautiful post. I'm seeing a lot of people sharing this on fb. thank you so much!Alex McFerronhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05613697088155278546noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5447608397823343035.post-39252599133660952792013-02-12T11:36:22.426-05:002013-02-12T11:36:22.426-05:00Women learn not to post profiles publicly because ...Women learn not to post profiles publicly because that gets comments about their looks. If they post a profile without a picture, they're "obviously too ugly".<br /><br />It's really disturbing to realize that one side effect of the rise of technology has been to create more ways for creepy, disturbed men to stalk and harass women.Moosehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10397412122635951126noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5447608397823343035.post-62923478864116348992013-02-12T02:19:49.466-05:002013-02-12T02:19:49.466-05:00The 2% figure for FLOSS is really just programmers...The 2% figure for FLOSS is really just programmers -- the numbers are not so bleak when it comes to the whole FLOSS infrastructure. Women have much better representation in sales and management of free-software oriented companies and they are better represented in documentation for free software.<br /><br />However, the FLOSSPOLS number of 30% for proprietary software is _also_ limited to programmers. So, yes, there really is a distinct FLOSS bias against women programmers.<br /><br />There are in fact, LOTS of "structural biases" built into the free-software communities. Removing these biases was the subject of an article I wrote for Free Software Magazine in 2008: http://www.freesoftwaremagazine.com/articles/ten_easy_ways_attract_women_your_free_software_project<br /><br />The issue is not that these communities "exclude" women, but rather that they are built distinctly around the psychological needs of men. Women do not find these environments inviting, motivating, or interesting. (And truth be told, there are a lot of men who don't like them that much, either).<br /><br />I suspect this is just as much a problem for proprietary software development, but much more of it is _paid work_ for which the women will simply grit their teeth and endure the crap to get their paycheck. Or it may be that proprietary working groups are more likely to operate in the "real world" where normal social limits are applied rather than relying exclusively on flame- and troll-ridden mailing lists, news groups, and chats.<br /><br />However, women absolutely DO collaborate on projects online -- one only has to look at fan fiction communities to see this. Therefore, it's clear that you _can_ build online collaboration environments that are inviting to women. I see no technical or psychological reason why free software collaboration environments couldn't adopt these design practices.<br /><br />I think it is clear, though, that free software development appeals particularly to certain very male psychological needs: to prove oneself in a pecking order and to establish territory and authority. These are not big motivators for women. They are more likely to be motivated by having the quality of their work appreciated -- which requires an active and supportive community that we don't have.<br /><br />But existing free-software communities are caustic and hostile, designed to exclude anyone who doesn't fit the community's stereotypes of a good developer, and generally full of criticism, insults, and tearing-down of contributor's egos. One reason major free-software pundits are such egoists is because you have to be to survive in this environment.<br /><br />There are some situations (the military perhaps) where these behaviors may actually be adaptive towards the work. In those professions, it's fair to tell the women to suck it up and behave like men if they want to get by. But I'm not by any means convinced that free software development is such a discipline. In fact, I think the quality of free-software would improve dramatically if the communities were more supporting and less hostile.<br /><br />So there's more reason than just accommodating women to want these changes.Terry Hancockhttp://lunatics.tvnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5447608397823343035.post-13583773245543321672013-02-11T13:49:29.020-05:002013-02-11T13:49:29.020-05:00They're getting old, but have a look at the FL...They're getting old, but have a look at the FLOSSPOL survey results. Obviously, the exact percentages vary, but the overall pattern remains the same: Women are under-represented in technology in general, but they are especially under-represented in FOSS.<br />- Bruce Byfield<br /><br />nandayhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12932916347517526430noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5447608397823343035.post-40695282165892283112013-02-11T11:09:05.005-05:002013-02-11T11:09:05.005-05:00Bruce Byfield wrote, "8. Proprietary software...Bruce Byfield wrote, "8. Proprietary software has six to fourteen times greater participation by women. Granted, that still leaves plenty of room for improvement. But does anyone really want to concede that the proprietary mindset can do anything better than our community can?"<br /><br />Is this true? An image search shows very few women involved with M$'s developers conferences and those are mostly in the entertainment/advertising.<br />see https://www.google.com/search?q=microsoft+developers+conference&hl=en&tbo=d&source=lnms&tbm=isch<br /><br />Compare that with a search for "debconf" and women are prominent.<br /><br />see https://www.google.com/search?q=debcon&hl=en&tbo=d&source=lnms&tbm=isch<br /><br />Debian has about 1700 entries in its database and judging from names I would guess about 1% are women. They have a gender field but many leave it unspecified.<br /><br />see http://db.debian.org/search.cgi<br /><br />Select "any" for country and click "search".<br /><br />9 women have posted profiles at http://www.debian.org/women/profiles/<br /><br />"Microsoft currently employs 88,180 people who work across 32,404,796 square feet of Microsoft's premises, over 50,000 of which are U.S.-based. The male to female ratio is very high among Microsoft's American employees with a staggering 76% male workforce."<br />see http://mashable.com/2010/07/17/microsoft-facts/<br /><br />That's for all US employees, not just developers. That includes office staff, salespeople etc.<br /><br />There's certainly nothing structural about Debian to prefer men. Bias in maths, science and technology is a widespread phenomenon in some regions. It's not about FLOSS. I expect as more barriers are broken by FLOSS the gender barrier will break too.Robert Pogsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09576863980224431680noreply@blogger.com