[UbuntuWomen] UW article for Fullcircle mag

[Vid Ayer]

On Jan 12, 2008 4:58 AM, Elizabeth Bevilacqua <lyz at ubuntu.com> wrote:
> On 1/11/08, Emma Jane Hogbin <emmajane at xtrinsic.com> wrote:
> > Elizabeth Bevilacqua wrote:
> > > I very strongly object to having purely technical articles located in
> > > a column about Ubuntu Women.
> >
> > I strongly object to your objection. I appreciate that 200 words isn't
> > very many; however, I don't think there's any reason to ever shy away
> > from being technical or discouraging UW members from being technical.
>
> I wasn't discouraging women from being technical - as I explained in
> the email I said we should submit our technical articles to the
> broader magazine rather than segregating ourselves within a column
> about the Ubuntu Women project (where I feel it's off-topic).
>
> The entire point of the Ubuntu Women project is so we can get more
> women involved in the general Ubuntu community. If we spend our time
> staying away from the community by only contributing in "women spaces"
> then we defeat the whole purpose of the project and add to the problem
> of people treating us differently.

Which is where there is a lot of confusion and mis-understanding of
what UW is all about. If being a part of project UW is segregation by
gender, by that logic almost every Ubuntu loco team is segregation on
the basis of country, and other project teams (art, technical, motu,
etc...) segregated on the basis of specialization. That can be deemed
unfair in the larger Free Software philosophy which (to summarize in a
single word) is all about being "inclusive".

UW (like other *-women groups) is all about supporting women in
technology, a space to be technical and encourage others to emulate
them. Its definitely not a redressal place to solve womens issues (in
technology), which it has come to be associated with off-late,
unfortunately. The latter impression would change only by group
participation,... action. That is one of the main reasons i advocate
the mentoring[1] program but its not being utilized, partly due to
non-availability of technical mentors and partly on the basis of
segregating women which is a shame.

FWIW, FullCircle is not a women's space. IIRC, Ronnie is including the
UW article with the main magazine and not as a separate magazine.

[1] http://www.ubuntu-women.org/mentoring.html


> > I think you
> > should at least include a reference in the column to new articles that
> > have been written by UW members elsewhere in the publication. i.e. "see
> > also Article XYZ written by community member ABC."

I concur, by having a column for UW in Fullcircle, we have a chance to
showcase what women members in technology can do. Instead of utilizing
the opportunity why are we complaining about segregation?

-- 
Vid
http://www.svaksha.com