[Ambassadors] Fedora-Women Plans

[Neville A. Cross]

El mar, 21-05-2013 a las 04:06 +0530, A. Mani escribió:
> On Fri, May 17, 2013 at 8:58 AM, nitesh narayan lal
> <niteshnarayan at fedoraproject.org> wrote:
> > But do you have any specific plans such as conducting events etc for
> > making Fedora-women active (its a good idea).
> > Then you can certainly share it here, We will try to help you as much
> > as possible .
> 
> 
> I will see what can be done.
> 
> 0. I am seeing a lack of direction (apart from inactivity) at
> https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Women
> 
> 1. The goal of improving collaboration within Fedora is definitely
> sensible, but we need to look beyond.
> 
> 2. Initiatives within Fedora : A FAS group will be useful.
> 
> 3. If we need to reach out/ expand free s/w network then apart from
> s/w related aspects we need to look at other avenues.
> 
> 4. Different regions and cultures of oppression exist. We need to
> address them differently.
> 
> 5. A Fedora distribution (or any spin) is not customized for any group
> of people: by way of themes, information (that go beyond
> documentation). Can we have spins that address
> a. rights including things like the s/w in
> http://www.huridocs.org/research-development/ and related
> customization.
> b. lack of basic knowledge among people that lead to social evils.
> c. Other kinds of basic knowledge that can empower people. This is
> going beyond the education spins.
> 
> and free software that provide the same (instead of dumping entire
> Wikipedia / links on people).
> 
> (that is some work)
> 
> 6. There are innumerable rights to be fought for and rights are a way
> of reaching out to people.
> 
> Events will keep happening ... but there should be different kinds of events.
> 
> 
> 
> Best
> 
> A. Mani
> 
> 
> --
> A. Mani
> CU, ASL, AMS, CLC, CMS
> http://www.logicamani.in
> --
> ambassadors mailing list
> ambassadors at lists.fedoraproject.org
> https://admin.fedoraproject.org/mailman/listinfo/ambassadors

I am male, and I am very worried about the lower female participation in
free software community. What in turn goes back to lower female
representation in our local fedora community.

I have been pursuing this issue for a about 4 or 5 years now with little
success. I have learned a couple of things. First, it is hard to reach
critical mass. The skills of some women does not match the needs of
other. The second is that some how what the community need is a safe
environment free of trolls. Rude people impact hard on beginners, as
some males come back for a second round, we turn blind to the fact that
we are dismissing a lot of beginners. They may have some technical
skills, but are facing the challenge of some unspoken group rules that
come from old dynamics, that are fading but not eradicated. Trolling
include some male flirtation, from invading personal space to harassment
(hope not).

We started by having a code of conduct that in its first point address
our aim for this safe environment gender/new-comers aware. We have tried
to the maximum to foster that in our local fedora group but sadly, it is
hard to keep trolls out. Some issues raised in our local mailing list by
our own fedora enthusiast been rude. Some times it is from people part
of the free software general community attending our events. It is
difficult but most fedora official members (as in FAS account holders)
are committed to this.

Nevertheless, in Nicaragua, we have failed before. We are trying the
idea of promoting a monthly women gathering about free software.
Initially with males only for invitation, hope that later more open
door, but always with power of banning people. I am sponsoring the place
and stepping aside from participating. I have contacted some TIC groups
with female focus. I hope that if this work, we can later get
sponsorship from some NGO that we are using now to spread the word about
this group.

This is a difficult task for Fedora Community, as this is a issue that
have to be dealt locally, and some times local fedora groups are not big
and resourceful enough to do some sort of what we are planning in
Nicaragua. I want my comments give hope and ideas to built a better
fedora community. I am really needing more insight, so please any advise
is more that welcome.


-- 
Neville
https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/User:Yn1v
Linux User # 473217