So I guess it’s just a case of trying to find a balance.

First of all, there is a question of simple mathematics. IT generally is unbalanced in terms of male/female numbers. The Open Source community is a small subset of many IT possibilities and therefore it is predictable that there are few women involved. Reasons for that are many and deep rooted. Career advice in schools in Ireland for pretty much any career, let alone IT is piss poor IMO. Why would anyone, male or female chose IT as a career when they know nothing about it and the many different possibilities involved?

However, I don’t think it is simply a matter of going into schools and preaching that IT equals easy megabucks, as was done for the first and second booms because frankly, if you’re not interested in technology and challenge, and not smart enough to get good, it is hard work, the hours suck, often with poor reward and potential poor job satisfaction. Courses fill up the market with low quality graduates or have lots of dropouts and the image of IT as a career suffers further. (For anyone thinking ‘but I didn’t go to college, and I’m a kick-ass coder/admin/whatever - yes, this isn’t about *you*. You’ve proved you can do it without needing a push onto that first step).

The ‘great idea’ that normally comes up now is role models. Women need role models to get into IT so we need women in IT to talk to them, right? Here’s a newsflash. Women can have male role models. In fact, it is horribly sexist to think that a girl choosing her subjects for the Leaving Cert or whatever will only do what another woman tells her, and will discount the opinion and experiences of a man. Also, instead of asking why women don’t do IT, ask why guys do. Our brains are not wired that differently and positive reasons from one group could well apply to another. Do guys go into IT because of role models, or because of exposure to and interest in the topic? Why one tactic for one set, and another for a different one?

Now, another thought. I know of quite a few women in IT (myself included) who will run a mile from this type of event, finding the ‘all girls together’ vibe cringeworthy, especially if, as sometimes happens, it is accompanied by an anti-guy thing. We work with guys daily in an atmosphere of mutual professional respect. We consider ourselves engineers, not ‘women engineers’. We do not like the idea of special treatment. It gives us the creeps, and puts women in Open Source in a position that reminds us of cheerleaders or groupies, rather than being core members of a team. We don’t want that. We just want to get on with being nerds, thanks.

So, without making a big song and dance, how can women feel more welcome at Open Source events? Simple. Make sure there is an overall welcoming and respectful attitude for all participants, male and female. If one gets a gentler intro than the other, that is setting up divisions based on some unpleasant assumptions in the first place. Special treatment sows doubts in the minds of those who are prone to discriminate IME.

Hopefully that lot will provoke some thoughts. Some of these may well be that you think I’m talking bullshit, but I’m simply describing what has worked for me for the last 8 years or so.