[OSGeo-Discuss] Re: [OSGeo-Women] Post FOSS4G2010 thoughts

[Simon Cropper]

On Saturday 11 September 2010 9:09:33 pm Anne Ghisla wrote:
> On Sat, 2010-09-11 at 02:01 +0200, Mateusz Loskot wrote:
> > Dear Ladies,
> > 
> > During the conference, Athina shared her impression about
> > gender mix in the board of directors.
> > I thoroughly support Athina's opinion it would be beneficial for the
> > foundation if some women could make it to the board.
> > 
> > Thus, I'd like to send out some bits of encouragement to you ladies.
> > Please, stand out!
> 
> Hi Mateusz, all,
> 
> [I cc discuss list to broaden the audience]
> 
> thanks for encouraging the participation of women in OSGeo!
> 
> Lot of thoughts and live discussions took place at the conference, and I
> had a chat with Helena about her perception of gender bias. In the US,
> she feels that women are no more a minority in the computer science
> field. It is not the same in other parts of the world, however, and
> that's something that OSGeo, as US-based foundation, has to consider.
> Athina and me also discussed about how women presence is uneven
> regarding the profile, i.e. coders, managers, sysadmins etc, so it is
> risky to generalise.
> 
> Lots of women attended the conference, and honestly I didn't expect it,
> so it was a very pleasant surprise :)
> I'd be interested in the women percentage in workshops, presentations,
> guests, and so on, and of course, in direct feedback from them.
> 
> That said, I join Mateusz and Athina in encouraging all women to show
> up :)
> 
> > Best regards,
> 
> best regards
> Anne

Hi All,

Personally I find such conversations quite frustrating and irritating. The 
whole tenor of the conversation smacks of political correctness gone mad.

Is there any evidence that women have been specifically targeted by OSGeo so 
that they can not make it to the board? Is there any evidence that women are 
unable to attend or contribute to OSGeo activities? No, at least from what I 
have seen.

That fact that the author of this email, who appears to be a woman, has 
indicated that there was plenty of other women present at the conference seems 
to fly in the face of general observations that women are not some how able to 
participate in the organisation's activities.

The fact that a woman has not made it to the board has more to do with no one 
with suitable experience being nominated! Not some malicious anti-woman 
campaign by the male-dominated OSGeo Community to exclude women!

Come on people, come back to reality and focus on what OSGeo is about (if you 
are unsure what the foundations goals are look at the webpage 
http://www.osgeo.org/content/foundation/about.html). Having carefully looked 
at the foundation's goals I was unable to see any comment on excluding any 
particular group of people, gender-based or otherwise.

-- 
Cheers Simon

	Simon Cropper
	Botanicus Australia Pty Ltd
	PO Box 160 Sunshine 3020
	P: 03 9311 5822. M: 041 830 3437
	W: http://www.botanicusaustralia.com.au