Gentoo Women

christel · Posted: Sun Jun 11, 2006 10:25 pm Post subject: Gentoo Women

Geek girls are almost the stuff of legend. Women make up only 30% of regular computer users, and as little as 2% of Linux users.

But why should this be the case? The reason for this can be as elusive as the Linux-using women themselves -- for every survey or paper saying that they are not given the same chances or opportunities, there is another one saying exactly the opposite. Lost in the midst of all this controversy, however, is the fact that little if anything is being done to interest women in computing, in Linux, or in Gentoo.

Groups such as the Debian project are seeking to change that. Debian Women[1], founded in 2004, was set up to encourage women to become more involved with Linux. The group maintains an IRC channel and a mailing list for the discussion of technical issues, as well as maintaining a public presence at Linux-related conferences and events. They also run an extensive mentoring program whereby women are paired up with a mentor who will spend the time to help them find answers to their questions, and get to know the distribution, as well as the community and Linux in general. This mentoring program adds a personal element to the process, and helps to guide people towards working more effectively with Linux. Unfortunately though, as the name implies, their efforts focus very much on encouraging their members to use Debian.

The idea was recently floated of starting a similar project for the women of Gentoo, and we would like your thoughts on the matter. Would such a project be welcome within the community, and would people take advantage of it? What would you like to see the project do, and how? Would you volunteer your time and/or money to encourage people, not just women, to use Gentoo, and to mentor and help users?

[1] http://women.alioth.debian.org/

Disclaimer: The above was shamelessly copied from a GWN article about Gentoo Women.

Edit:
For those wishing to discuss this with myself or other Userrel members in "real time," you are most welcome to find us in #gentoo-userrel on irc.freenode.net or dropping us an e-mail to userrel@gentoo.org
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G2k · l33t Joined: 06 Mar 2004 Posts: 672 Location: Rome, Italy

Who cares about women using Linux? Seriously. If they want to, good. If not, who cares? Just like any other Linux user, if one wants to use Linux, so be it; if one wants to use Windows/Mac, so be it. By making special sections or whatnot devoted to women, not only are you being unfair instead of fair but you're also being degrading to them in my opinion.
And besides, you can't force boys to play with barbies if they don't want to, just like you can't force girls to wrestle or play with swords...well, you get the idea. Drop the idea while it's early, it will save you and others lots of time.
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Carlo · Developer Joined: 12 Aug 2002 Posts: 3356

@G2k: christel probably wants to reach women, who maybe feel shy or not accepted as geeks among a vast majority of men, want to talk about the female aspects of being a geek, build a net of contacts or... <dunno/>. In irc or web forums a user is a user, but there are e.g. the mailinglists (where real names are dominant/preferred) as well. This has not much to do with male users; An operation, plenty of sex hormons and I'm quite sure, christel will accept you, though. :twisted:

Next year in your beloved GWN: Finally - pink colored Gentoo release media!
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ufoman · Tux's lil' helper Joined: 02 Apr 2006 Posts: 80

Yay! /me likes women using Linux...
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MeitalRules · n00b Joined: 22 May 2006 Posts: 17

I got the feeling that christel says that females aren't inteligent enough to get interest with computers, and therefor they need special programs to make them involved with all the computers stuff. I find it insulting.
I really can't undarstand why there aren't a lot of females who interests in computers. maybe it's because of the way that other people treats them. For example reactions like "how come u don't know that? what r u an idiot???" that comes usually from males.
If u think about it, there is a good thing about many males in one place(like linux forums), because that helps me to convince my friends to use linux-they might find a boyfriend there

btw i'm not geek!

slick · Bodhisattva Joined: 20 Apr 2003 Posts: 3495

MeitalRules · n00b Joined: 22 May 2006 Posts: 17

ToeiRei · Veteran Joined: 03 Jan 2005 Posts: 1191 Location: Austria

Well - from my own experience - I do not dislike a nice desktop. But do not forget that there are some of us (including me) doing more than just changing wallpapers...

Rei
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playfool · Posted: Mon Jun 12, 2006 9:39 am Post subject:

Would this not increase the feeling of alienation on the part of the women, they are getting special treatment instead of being accepted on their merits?

Dralnu · Veteran Joined: 24 May 2006 Posts: 1919

I think its a great idea. The fact that most Linux users are male in itself can be a deterent for some women, and alot of others who may hold an interest may feel like they are going to be ridiculed for such a move by the "non-geeks" of the world around them. I'll all for such a program, and I'll personally offer my help, even if its for someone to point a laugh at

(seriously, search for me on here and you'll find out I've had more problems with this then a snake swallowing a porcupine backwards). I don't know what help I would be capable of, but hell I'm here, and I figure I might as well do SOMETHING for the community besides leech off the software :-P

.

Pretty desktops are nice. When I had SuSe installed, I had a desktop wallpaper that was, guess what, a stream in a forest. Forgot the name of it, downloaded it from the download thing in the KDE (my prefred desktop, since I've had trouble with Gnome) Background window. Alot of wallpapers these days are a bit on the odd side, and I personally am one for something a bit more nature-oriented.

Also, if there are any, any good HOWTOs on serious desktop revamping would be nice to see, since the defaults all get kind of old kind of fast...

christel has my support on this, and it seems like at least (if this thread is any indication) about 70% of the commun will, too.

G2k, understandable point you have, but understand that women think diffrently then men do. I for one couldn't care less what others think about me (I don't. Seriously, getting into an insult war with me is like trying to KO a wrecking ball...), but women are alot more sensitive, and if they feel they are going to be alone, or almost alone, then that will give them a reason to not try it.
I think what christel is trying to do here isn't convert Mac/M$ users to Linux, but to give those interested a foothold into the community.

On a slightly-related note: A bit more in the way of obvious config scripts would be nice, and an extention of the Install Manual would be nice to incorporate basic DE/WM configuration/selection might be needed, since it kind of drops off after initial install...
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sugar · Posted: Mon Jun 12, 2006 10:40 am Post subject:

I don't want to be mean, but isn't this discrimination?

Chaosite · Posted: Mon Jun 12, 2006 10:57 am Post subject:

ToeiRei · Veteran Joined: 03 Jan 2005 Posts: 1191 Location: Austria

agreed; We're not aliens.

Rei
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BlackEdder · Posted: Mon Jun 12, 2006 11:12 am Post subject:

Chaosite · Posted: Mon Jun 12, 2006 1:43 pm Post subject:

Huh?

Gusar · Posted: Mon Jun 12, 2006 5:53 pm Post subject:

leiaz · n00b Joined: 07 May 2006 Posts: 14

I'm a girl, and I don't really see the point of a group for women. As ToeiRei said, we are not aliens. I would feel less comfortable if I was to be treated differently because i'm a woman.
It's good to encourage and help people to use linux, but there is no need for a special program for women, imho.

About desktop and wallpapers : I'm not really into pink ponies

I currently use this one. But maybe wallpapers with sexy males in gentoo underwear could lead to more women using gentoo ... :oops:

playfool · Posted: Mon Jun 12, 2006 7:04 pm Post subject:

DoctorMO · n00b Joined: 16 Jul 2004 Posts: 15 Location: London

Interestingly there has been some interesting studies done of the comparative behavour of males and 'geek', there seems to be a real tendancy for people with male type brains to be more geeky than female brain types.

None of this means women can't use linux, but because you can't attract the majority of women with geek factor it means we arn't doing our job in attracting people in general.

Attact more women and more men will be using it too.

P.S. I'm middle brained and compleatly insane.
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RuiP · l33t Joined: 15 Jan 2005 Posts: 643

DoctorMO · n00b Joined: 16 Jul 2004 Posts: 15 Location: London

Ah my bad, I meant attract more women.
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The Mad Crapper · Apprentice Joined: 08 Aug 2005 Posts: 156

In my experience, woman are just much less technical. I have known very few females in technical jobs. (maybe about 2%) When it comes to technology, i think most of them just want it to work- thus, not a very good fix for something like Gentoo.

I think the girls that do like technology and tinkering with their PCs/OS are the few we have that use Linux.

This is just MY observation. I like the idea of female Linux users as much as anyone, but as i learned a long time ago.. Men and Woman are different.

I would be more then willing to help women get involved with Linux, i just don't get the feeling that there are a lot of women shying away from it because it is a mostly populated with male users. I just think most female computer users don't have the interest.