The issue of the small number of women involved in FLOSS and sub-communities, together with sexist incidents in these communities, received a very large amount of attention in 2009 due to several highly publicised sexist incidents, prominent conference presentations about the issue, and considerable press coverage.
Much of the discussion seems to have fed into further discussion, with incidents fuelling discussion, presentations and debate.
Origins
The first half of 2009 saw several sexist incidents in the FLOSS community and wider Technology industry, including:
These incidents were widely blogged and subsequently documented on this wiki. The degree and intensity of discussion was notably high, each incident building on the last.
At the same time, Racefail was in progress in the Science Fiction Fandom and Media Fandom communities. Although not directly related to the subject of women in FLOSS, it did touch on minority/diversity issues in geek communities, and many people who were involved or reading the Racefail discussions later took part in the Women in FLOSS discussions, often using tools and resources learnt from Racefail.
The foundation of this wiki in 2008 may have contributed to the 2009 discussions, as it allowed sexist incidents to be documented in a central location and offered a resource for people to link to.
Keynote presentations
In 2009, there were several keynote presentations on the issue at Technical conferences:
- Angela Byron at Open Web Vancouver
- Standing Out in the Crowd (July 2009 at OSCON, September at Atlanta Linux Fest, October at ZendCon)
Although conference presentations about women in FLOSS are not uncommon, the number of keynote presentations in 2009 was unprecedented, showing an increased interest in the subject.
Press coverage
- August:
- September:
- Sexism: Open Source Software's Dirty Little Secret by Bruce Byfield in ITManagement website.
Outcomes
The discussion partly or mostly inspired the creation of several geek feminist and related initiatives: the Geek Feminism blog, the FOSS Women planet, the Python community diversity list and the FSF mini-summit on Women in Free Software.