[UbuntuWomen] 'Stereotype Threat': Why Women Quit Science Jobs

[Elizabeth Krumbach]

On Thu, Jul 12, 2012 at 3:32 PM, Fred H Olson <fholson at cohousing.org> wrote:
>  The study suggests the gender disparity in science and technology may
>  be, at least in part, the result of a vicious cycle.
>
>  In order to boost the numbers of women who choose to go into those
>  fields, you have to boost the number of women who are in those fields.
>
> Comments?

This is a pretty well-known problem and not easy to fix, but we are
making progress in the Open Source world. There are a growing number
of women in Open Source, and more importantly - a growing number women
in leadership positions. There are now 2 of us on the 8 person Ubuntu
Community Council (and actually, 3 were elected but one had to step
down due to other commitments), the Fedora Project Leader is a woman,
the executive director of the GNOME Foundation...

To do our part, the Ubuntu Women project has an Interviews initiative
where we seek out women in our community to ask them about their
involvement so other women can see and engage with others who are
involved:

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

Having a group like ours at all helps too, we don't have to feel so
alone as a woman in Open Source, there are people to talk to when
there are questions or problems, it simplifies finding role models and
it's really great to be able to mail this list and say "hey, I'll be
at $conference - anyone else want to meet up?" Personally, LinuxChix
and groups like this are what really helped me stay involved with Open
Source.

-- 
Elizabeth Krumbach // Lyz // pleia2
http://www.princessleia.com