From the article:
For years, word has circulated of a significant gender gap in the technology workplace, where women are greatly outnumbered by men. The blame is typically placed on low interest on the part of women to pursue computers and engineering, but the actual experience of women working in technology is rarely addressed. A report released May 14 stands to shift this perception by drawing attention to the fact that tech workplaces may not be the most favorable environments for women to work in.As you already read, I figured that the environmental issue may apply equally as well -- though in a different form -- to open source development as it does to high tech in general. Feel free to read the article and let me know what you think.
Men in computing do need to make a conscious effort to include women (and often fail to do so) -- I remember when someone at LGM remarked on the lack of female presenters, despite women in the audience who were certainly qualified to do so, the first thing that came to my mind was "did anyone ask them if they were interested in presenting something?"
ReplyDeleteAt the same time, I think it is something that the sexes need to meet halfway on; there are changes women can make as well. Val Henson, one of the Linux kernel hackers, goes into this a little bit in her "Women Don't Ask" page.