August 23, 2005 7:53 AM PDT
Apache hopes to encourage female coders
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Jean Anderson, who works on the Apache Derby database, said Monday that the list will provide a "supportive, encouraging forum to help women become more involved in ASF projects."
"The list is open to all genders--you might be a woman who wants to become more involved or you might be someone who would just like to help create a welcoming environment," said Anderson in a mailing list posting.
Open-source projects tend to have many more male developers than female developers; this is partly a reflection of the under-representation of women in software development as a whole, but other issues, such as sexism and aggressive language on mailing lists and forums, have been thought to deter women from getting involved.
Debian, the free Linux distribution, set up a group last year to encourage the participation of women. Helen Faulkner, a member of Debian Women, told ZDNet UK last year that the group offers advice to women on a variety of topics from how to install Debian to how to write a bug report. It is also encouraging Debian to become more welcoming to women by flagging instances of sexism.
Ingrid Marson of ZDNet UK reported from London.
See more CNET content tagged:
Debian,
women,
Apache Software Foundation,
mailing list,
open source
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I just don't get it, folks.
This whole notion of focusing on gender -- whether it be male or female -- completely goes against the goal of equality. We're going backwards discerning the difference when it comes to common goals and tasks. It's borderline sexism... which I thought women in the 30s took care of addressing via bra-burning feminism.
Also, I love how this issue is only a focus in American societies; doesn't work this way in Europe...
I just don't get it, folks.
This whole notion of focusing on gender -- whether it be male or female -- completely goes against the goal of equality. We're going backwards discerning the difference when it comes to common goals and tasks. It's borderline sexism... which I thought women in the 30s took care of addressing via bra-burning feminism.
Also, I love how this issue is only a focus in American societies; doesn't work this way in Europe...