"Anonymous" Questions for Drupalchix Panel

Thank you to Crystal Williams, Brenda Boggs, Nicole Bluto and everyone else who participated in the panel discussion from DrupalCampLA! Following are highlights and links to download an audio file from the discussion. Below that is our ongoing conversation. Please participate!

Additionally, Laura Scott from pingVision has written a fantastic blog entry on BlogHer that goes in depth into a number of important questions and previous discussions, as well as including some of her own questions and insights. This is a must-read that links to many other must-reads on this very topic: http://www.blogher.com/where-are-all-women-question-time-open-source

Highlights from the Drupalchix Conversation at DrupalCampLA, 8.9.09

Question:
Why does it matter that there is a low percentage of women in Open Source/Drupal?
Discussion:

• Any community that is not diverse is not as strong as it could be.

Question:
Why aren’t women visible in the Open Source / Drupal community in greater numbers?
Discussion:

• Open source has a brutal meritocracy which puts everyone under a high level of scrutiny (it has to have this) – which generates a high barrier for entry. In commercial software, it’s easier to be there and do your thing “quietly.”
• Look at the contributions in Drupal from women, and the relative to percentage of involvement from women: those women who do contribute have offered a substantial amount to the community.
• The amount of “free time” required to participate meaningfully (especially when you factor in kids – when women get off from work they don’t have free time).
• Take a look at the study released on http://www.flosspols.org

Question:
How do we attract and retain women to/in the open source community?
Discussion:

• Invitations are necessary! Forums, drupalchix, twitter, etc. Clear example of how successful that can be is DrupalCampLA itself!
• Remove the assumptions that are evidenced by common questions such as “are you in marketing, are you a blogger” – these assumptions are, themselves, a barrier to retention of women in the community.
• Major solution: increase the number of technical presentations given by women at conferences (DrupalCampLA 2009 did a great job)… note, has to be legit.
• What about offering childcare at camps and code-sprints or other events?
• Mentor and be an example for younger women (girls).

Other things that came up:

• If demeaning stuff is posted on forums or occurs in the community, it needs to be addressed immediately or women will merely lurk at best, and entirely disappear at worst.
• Use the word “respectful” instead of “protective” when talking creating a mutually inviting atmosphere/community.
• Do we set our own barrier too high? Women: know that you can help even if you aren’t an expert or don’t think you are.

Files are all available directly from here:
http://www.sunrainproductions.com/news/2009/aug/drupalchix-conversation-…

Direct links to the files:

Edited Sound File (30 minutes):
Ogg Format – 42.4 mb
mp3 Format – 27 mb

Meeting Minutes (very rough, special thanks to Peter Benjamin!):
OpenOffice Document Format – 16 kb
Rich Text Format – 12 mb

These files are available via the Creative Commons Attribution Share-Alike 2.5 General License. Attribution should go to DrupalCampLA 2009 Drupalchix Track. Thanks!

Please Discuss!

These questions are meant to be “anonymous” – encouraging those who submit to be honest about their questions and not self-edit due to concerns of being politically correct. We want this to be a great, constructive conversation and can only make that happen by being honest.

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