[UbuntuWomen] article in the Dutch Linux Magazine

[Elizabeth Bevilacqua]

On Sun, Aug 24, 2008 at 11:57 PM, Vid_A <vid at svaksha.com> wrote:
> On Sun, Aug 24, 2008 at 00:51, akke hoekstra <akke at ubuntu-nl.org> wrote:
> There is a lot of difference between DW and other *women groups.  I
> believe this is a good thing, since each caters to a different segment
> and helps address a diverse gap of issues. Example, DW is wholly
> concentrated on increasing the technical contribution and from 2 in
> the NM queue back in 2004 when DW started, they have grown to 10 (yay
> , double digits) of the 1000+ DD's Debian has.
>
> UW was started along those lines but for various reasons it was never
> completely restricted to technical stuff since there was a lot of
> resistance and claims that we were duplicating or separating, even if
> we never did. To me, discussing packaging/testing bugs/translation
> does not mean we are going to create a 'pink' distro but
> misconceptions persist. YMMV.

I think the difference here between Debian Women and Ubuntu Women
comes from the general culture of each project. The Debian community
as a whole is more focused on technical contributions - indeed, the
only way to get a @debian.org email address is by becoming a
developer. Ubuntu is a much vaster community, where everything from
outreach to artwork to code development are highly valued within the
community. I think they both have their place, but it's easy to see
how the culture of each -Women group was born from the culture of the
project it developed within. I suspect this is also true for other
-Women groups, we have similar goals (boost female involvement) but
we're products of our f/oss project culture.

> Linuxchix is culturally diverse in every way compared to UW and DW and
> has some fantastic women there. Besides the encouragement and support,
> I learnt a lot of community management by just being there, listening
> and observing.

LinuxChix is also about socializing. While all F/OSS groups have a
social angle, LinuxChix gives more a feeling of it's a place where we
are supposed to hook up with other women and become friends. Technical
expertise? There is LOADS of that, but the personal bonds I've formed
through LinuxChix have been invaluable to my personal and professional
success. I wouldn't be here without LinuxChix :)

>> Does Ubuntu-women have an immediate link to the Ubuntu-top? Were they ever
>> succesfull in changing things? Do people like  for instance Jono Bacon
>> really listen to what's being said here?

We had a couple sessions about the team last year with Jono Bacon,
links are available on our Events page:

http://wiki.ubuntu-women.org/Events

And at least Belinda Lopez and myself have had Skype conversations
with Jono Bacon over the years to get help with steering the project.
When my membership application was reviewed and approved last year
Mark Shuttleworth had a lot of questions about the project. So we're
certainly on the radar of the higher ups.

>> What are the biggest issues for the Ubuntu-women?
>> I remember things like software for girls and women, women who are not taken
>> seriously simply because they are women, the totally different approach
>> women seem to have towards rude behaviour. Women just can t turn around and
>> act as if nothing really happened.
>
> I wear asbestos, have lernt to ignore rudeness/nastiness (yes it
> exists especially in local communities when some think they can get
> away with it) and be persistent. My time as a volunteer is just as
> important (if not more) as someone being paid to work in the Libre
> software community and i respect that first.
>
> IMHO, people openly hostile to women are easier to understand and
> avoid. The worst cases are those folks that pretend to be politically
> correct or pretend to support women in order to control or influence
> the project or just get good karma by being associated with the
> project. Such things are the most difficult for a person to detect,
> understand and deal with.

+1 to all this!

I think there is also a general culture issue within F/OSS that we've
run into a lot. F/OSS development is well known for being a bit rough
around the edges, with "political correctness" being a much-feared
term and lot of folks not wanting to change the culture to increase
the number of folks who might be a bit more shy about helping out
(which usually happen to be women, minorities, much older and younger
folks, and even professionals!).

Luckily for Ubuntu Women there isn't as much of a with Ubuntu culture
as I've encountered elsewhere (I have LEFT projects in the past due to
hostility I didn't want to put up with for something I was
volunteering over!). And over the past year I've seen quite a
transformation within the community as far as acceptance goes - which
I want to partially attribute to the influx of very talented, active
women within the project. This year has seen a sharp increase in women
becoming Members, blogging on the Ubuntu planet, and becoming members
of Ubuntu Councils.

Cheers,

Lyz/pleia2

-- 
Elizabeth Bevilacqua
http://www.princessleia.com