WoMoz: Attracting Women to Open-Souce Programming
Mozilla, creator of Firefox and other cutting-edge web applications, has decided to do something about the pitiful figure of having just 1% of Open Source developers belong to the female sex.
They have launced WoMoz, which in the words of the organziation, "aims to increase the participation of women in open source projects: understanding why this gap exist, reaching, and making products and projects more attractive for women."
A link to the project's website can be found here.
Below is the project's logo, created by Anamaria Stoica.
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I go to a school where the cs majors are on top of the schools hierarchy. In the entire cs department there are only three female students. For a field that covers 23% of our student body, that is a drastically low number. So, I'm sure that what they are going to find will deal with that, seeing as how most people who work with open source actually do hold a degree in computer technology, that has to be understood. Its not that the company isn't hiring women as often as men, its that there are not women wanting the jobs.
Its not that the company isn't hiring women as often as men, its that there are not women wanting the jobs.
Because there is hostility when entering the field in the first place. Even with just web programming, I get stares and sneers from fellow male students. When I ask a question because I want the professor to cl
For some reason it split my message in half:
When I ask a question because I want the professor to clarify, I can hear the snickering and them calling me stupid. Rather than my eyes are bad and have a mild form of dyslexia, any mistake I make is because I am a woman.
Even academic advisors at some schools are less lik
Maybe your classmates are just excersising their by feminists so highly prized right to have high standards.
The problem isn't high standards; it's differing standards for men and women, and differing interpretations of the same behavior coming from different genders, neither of which is something feminists support. A woman makes a small mistake, it's because she sucks at comp-sci, and she sucks and comp-sci because all women suck at comp-sci. A man makes a small mistake, and it's water off a duck's back.
But you probably know that already, you dumb troll.
Sort of how a man beeing shallow is chauvinism. A women beeing shallow is called 'the right to high standards'?
Its not that the company isn't hiring women as often as men, its that there are not women wanting the jobs.
Because there is hostility when entering the field in the first place. Even with just web programming, I get stares and sneers from fellow male students. When I ask a question because I want the professor to cl
First, I love how Mozilla is encouraging women's input and participation by creating a safe space. This is a recognized issue and they're totally taking the reigns and trying figure out why it is and how to fix it.
However, it continues to anger me that the supposedly logical world of computer science/programming isn't a neutral and safe space already. (grrrrrr... yes, I know it is in actuality far from that)
And what do you all think about the logo having flowers? It's (almost) like the whole "pink it and shrink it" phenomenon. Let's hope that isn't what "making products and projects more attractive for women" means.
So, I'm hesitantly hopeful and extremely encouraging. A space without the 'you QQ like a girl' (and worse) sentiments will be extremely helpful, especially for girls just discovering the depth of computers, women entering their careers, and the rest of us who are fed up with internet asshatery.
In addition, I was reading their "WoManifesto" and they are not limiting the space to 'just women'. So I see this as a possibility for a very GLBTI-friendly space too.
I'm kind of disappointed how the womoz project seems eager to blame the hostile environment on the women who don't participate in OSS, rather than the men who are actually being hostile. From the wiki (emphasis mine):
You enter a room full of men who suddenly stop talking and watch you intensely. You almost feel like an intruder, and maybe even a prey. You might overhear snickers and comments on your expertise, on your physical appearance,...
But wouldn't you stare and ask yourself questions if a purple elephant entered your room? Of course you would, because you are not used to seeing such a thing. Not saying that women are purple elephants (!), this is just to illustrate how they inevitably stand out in a male-dominated crowd.
The situation described above, quite caricaturist of course and not to be considered as a generality, demonstrates a simple fact: there are very few women working in computer science. And we need more women for mentalities and awkward behaviors to evolve and change.