[Chixla] Women in Linux

[Lisa]

This may be slightly off-subject but I felt it's worth mentioning.  At 
SCaLE, there was a seminar on Linux networking security, covering utils 
like Snort, Ethereal, etc. and how to keep home and workplace networks 
secure.
Out of an almost-full conference room of what I'd estimate to be at 
least 200-300 people, I was one of two women in the entire room.  The 
other woman came in with her boyfriend/husband so it was impossible to 
tell whether she came for the subject matter at hand or not.
I was extremely disappointed to see this, especially in light of the 
obvious presence of women at SCaLE.  Networking security is a booming IT 
sector that pays good money.  And these days, with all the security 
nastiness going on, we techies need to know at least some basics about 
keeping the bad guys/gals out, if for no other reason than for the 
safety of our own personal networks.
I don't know what to do about this, only that it bears pointing out that 
if we are concerned about the lack of women in Linux programming, we 
should be outright alarmed about the lack of women in Linux network 
administration.
Lisa
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> Today's Topics:
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>    1. Fw: Women are joining the world of Free- and Open Source
>       Software (SMichelle)
>
>
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Message: 1
> Date: Wed, 8 Mar 2006 11:14:35 -0800
> From: SMichelle <smichelle at livinglikeapenguin.com>
> Subject: [Chixla] Fw: Women are joining the world of Free- and Open
> 	Source	Software
> To: LinuxChixLA <chixla at linuxchixla.org>
> Message-ID: <20060308111435.3300fc2a.smichelle at livinglikeapenguin.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1
>
> Forwarded post from the Women in Apache mailing list
> http://mail-archives.apache.org/mod_mbox/www-women/
>
> /Sharon Michelle
>
>
>
>
> Begin forwarded message:
>
> Date: Wed, 08 Mar 2006 19:59:06 +0100
> To: women at apache.org, debian-women at lists.debian.org,
> women at opensource.org
> Subject: Women are joining the world of Free- and Open Source Software
>
>
> Women are making there way into the information age and joining
> the world of Free- and Open Source Software
>
> More women in Free (and all kinds of) software will lead to
> democracy, more humanism and diversity in society.
>
> March 8th each year is an important date for making status of the
> land winnings of the past and make an action plan for the future.
>
> In 2005 a group of women decided to hold a BOF, Birds Of A Feather,
> making a presentation on how to get more women interested in joining
> the Free Software Community at FLOS software events all over the world.
>
> During EuroOSCON, the Libre Software Meeting and now at FOSDEM, an
> early and cold Sunday morning in February the room was stuffed with men
> and women. The youngest girl was 1? years old already at FOSDEM - trying
> to make her voice heard.
>
> Hannah Wallach from the Debian Women Project explained about the
> study that the EU Commission is having made by independent
> university researchers.
>
> The independent report will be published in 1-2 months time and is
> going to show that the percentage of women in Free - and Open Source
> Software is as modest as about 1.5 %.
>
> I hope that the report initiated by the European Commission will
> give some statistics from other sectors for comparison.
>
> In many other fields the situation is as imbalanced as it is the case
> in the software business. Research, music and sports to mention a few
> areas - religion not mentioned because no kind of software is a
> religion.
>
> The good news is that we are taken action ourselves. The community is
> going to identify the reasons why we have this situation. We in the
> community have got the challenge to point to ways and means of changing
> this imbalance. It is also very clear to me that we want to do so
> because we do not want to miss a potential of more than 50% of all the
> ideas in our innovation projects!
>
> I have heard that in Malaysia the women are in majority in the
> ICT sector and that the government is worried and planning a program to
> get more men involved.
>
> This shows us that it is circumstances in society that influence
> our choices and not something that has to do with gender chromosomes.
>
> At the moment ICT decisions are made all over the globe and on
> all levels both in governments and by businesses- most often without
> females represented in the decision making bodies!
>
> It is therefore important that we make up a list by country of women
> and men that are qualified to represent our case on public and
> private boards and experts committees.
>
> In Norway there has to be at least 40% women represented in the
> local government and the municipalities. Denmark has a similar proposal
> on its way.
>
> I am sure that we do not want a virtual universe where the girls
> are groupies and just sit there. Most men in the original hacker
> culture have been living in an all male subculture for a long period of
> time. Software is no longer a subculture, it is about communication and
> big business on a global scale. ICT is changing our ways of living, and
> rapidly too.
>
> Many men have discovered that it is actually very nice to come out in
> the daylight once in a while, and meet other people that are not a
> mirror of themselves. The cultural habits of the super nerds can not
> be changed over night, and not if they are not willing to let others in.
>
> The hacker culture does not exclude women, but we have to step lightly
> and be careful. If we want to join the community a large amount of
> patience, skills and humor will be a good ballast.
>
> The reward is that one can make many new friends - and the by product
> is that one learns a lot. Enough to find out that there are in fact no
> limits to what one can learn- your own capacity sets the pace.
>
> Happy hacking
>
> Anne
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
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> End of Chixla Digest, Vol 13, Issue 6
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