Re: Re: Just a single Question for the Candidates

[Raul Miller <moth@debian.org>]

On Wed, Mar 03, 2004 at 12:11:46PM +0000, Helen Faulkner wrote:
> I think that on average, women are likely to be not so confident that 
> their skills will allow them to survive in an environment like debian, 
> compared to their male counterparts.  I don't know why this is true, but 
> I experience it all the time.  My only guess is that it's basically 
> cultural, and that it's deeply rooted even in someone who is generally 
> sure of her technical/learning skills, as I am.

I've heard that [culturally] men tend to get encouraged to be assertive
and outspoken, while women get encouraged to wait for someone else to
do the outspoken bit.

I'm not sure if that's true, but in otherwise anonymous gaming
environments I've noticed that a female persona gets treated much
differently than a male persona.  Females get lots of encouragement,
and tend to feel that they're doing something wrong if they don't get
that kind of feedback.  Males tend to get left alone much more and thus
are less likely to be swayed by encouragement [or its lack].

> To overcome the problem (and yes, I do believe lack of input from half 
> of humanity is a problem), I think debian needs to get less "scary" 
> towards women.  Maybe if the word went out that women would be actually 
> welcomed, people would be more interested.  Something on the website, 
> possibly?

And a few role models wouldn't hurt, either...

Thanks,

-- 
Raul