Terms to designate groups for women

Are you founding a women geeks group? Then you'll probably need a name. Here are some words/terms/names you could use to show that it is for women.

When choosing a name, it's important to be welcoming to trans women and not just cis women. Additionally, if you want to include genderqueer and/or non-binary-identified people who aren't male in your organization, it's worth thinking about how to choose a name that is inclusive.

Women

Examples:

• Tends to be used in university CS groups
• Popular with Linux distros - Debian Women, FedoraWomen, Ubuntu Women, GnomeWomen, KDEWomen
• (GNOME) Outreach Program for Women
• Women in Drupal - formerly DrupalChix
• PHP Women
• WikiWomen
• Ruby Women
• Women Who Code
• Oceania Women of Open Tech (OWOOT)

Pros:

• Probably the most neutral term available now. Less polarizing than other terms.
• Very inclusive to adult women, especially ages 25-120
• Common on restroom signs
• Recommended in journalism by AP Stylebook

Cons:

• Doesn't rhyme with anything
• Younger women and teenagers don't necessarily associate themselves with the term
• Can feel overly formal and businesslike

Ladies

Examples:

• PyLadies
• Lambda Ladies
• Tech Lady Mafia
• Glorious Ladies of Free Software[1]

Pros:

• Commonly reappropriated in hip-hop feminism, e.g. Ladies First by Queen Latifah. Has come back into vogue in recent years [2][3]
• Can be fun in a retro, ironic way, e.g. "Single Ladies" by Beyoncé
• Commonly used on restroom signs in some places, esp. multicultural urban areas
• More casual and playful than "women"
• Commonly used by college-aged women who might not identify with the term "woman" yet. Widely used by sororities. [3]

Cons:

• Offensive in some places and contexts [4]
• Can feel overly old-fashioned
• Can feel classist
• "Woman" preferred over "lady" in journalism. AP Stylebook says, "lady: Do not use as a synonym for women. Lady may be used when it is a courtesy title or when a specific reference to fine manners is appropriate without patronizing overtones." [5]

Female

Examples:

• Females in Information Technology and Telecommunications

Pros:

Cons:

• Often considered disrespectful or demeaning in modern usage. [4]
• Often used by trans-excluding radical feminists to refer exclusively to cis women. Thus, some trans women will assume that they aren't welcome in a group with "females" in the name.

Girls

Examples:

• Black Girls Code (for girls)
• Go Girl, Go for IT (for girls)
• Girls' Programming Network (for girls)
• Girl Develop It
• Girl Geek Dinners
• Geek Girl Tech Conferences
• GeekGirlCon
• RailsGirls
• DjangoGirls

Pros:

• One syllable

Cons:

• Off-putting/infantilising to some women
• Can be confusing to actual intent of audience

Grrls

Examples:

• LinuxChix's grrls-only mailing list.

Pros:

• Rad 90s RiotGrrl zine vibe

Cons:

• Similar to 'girls', can be off-putting to women

Gals

Examples:

• Hacker Gals

Pros:

• Casual, fun

Cons:

• Similar to 'girls', can be off-putting to women
• Trivialising? Depends on purpose of the group

Chicks/Chix

Examples:

• LinuxChix
• WikiChix
• CodeChix
• DevChix
• DrupalChix (changed to Women in Drupal)

Pros:

• Fun, casual, and light-hearted. Playful.
• Fun and empowering to reclaim the word.
• Common in women's tech group names. Easily identifiable as a fun technical women's group.

Cons:

• Pretty 90s.
• "Chicks" is a trivialising and somewhat sexualized term for women. So using it has the pros/cons of reclamation.
• Can be embarrassing or accidentally offensive to say aloud because it sounds like saying "chicks," e.g. sounds like saying, "Are you going to the Linux Chicks meetup?"
• If referred to by a man verbally, it can cause accidental insult, e.g. "You're a Dev Chick, right?"

Dolls

Examples:

• Frag Dolls

Pros/Cons:

• Very informal

Sisters

Examples:

• Systers
• CSters (a university group)

Cons:

• Suggests a level of closeness that may be offputting for a casual group.

Feminist

Examples:

• Geek Feminism
• Feminist Frequency

Pros/Cons:

• Not all geek women are feminists
• Not all feminists are women -- you will need to figure out whether it's a group for women only or not

Divas

• Digital Divas (for girls)

Cons:

• Very exclusionary to women who are not traditionally feminine

Broads

Examples:

• Broad Universe

Pros/Cons:

Unicorns

From the unicorn law, ie, a woman geek is as rare/mythical as a unicorn.

Examples:

• The Haecksen miniconf doesn't use it as a name, but has made considerable use of unicorn logos.

Pros/Cons:

• Lends itself well to icons and graphics.
• The term is not well known outside the geek feminism community, and therefore can confuse or alienate people.
• Haecksen found that some men missed the irony and were encouraged to actually treat women like unicorns: ie, to photograph them and exclaim over a coveted "unicorn" sighting.

Mother/Mom

Examples:

• Mothership HackerMoms

Pros/Cons:

• Only a good idea if explicitly for mothers and that is relevant to the group

She/Her (female pronouns)

Examples:

• BlogHer
• She's Geeky
• She Hacks

Pros/Cons:

Miss/Ms/Mrs (female titles)

Examples:

• MzTek
• Miss Baltazar's Laboratory

Pros/Cons:

Abbreviation that uses one of the above terms

Examples:

• WoMoz, short for "Women & Mozilla"

Pro:

• If you can make a nice acronym it can work well

Con:

• Can be obscure

Name reference to a famous woman in the field

• Anita Borg Institute
• Grace Hopper Celebration
• Ada Initiative and AdaCamp
• Disreputable Order of Hopperites
• Edinburgh University Hoppers

Pros:

• Different

Cons:

• May be too obscure
• Can be a difficult choice between being named for a recognizable woman and being one of many organizations named for that woman!

Borrowing from other languages

Examples:

• Haecksen
• Foufem (based in a bilingual city)

Cons:

• Obscure, could be appropriative

No gender connotation at all

Examples:

• Seems to be popular with feminist hackerspaces - Double Union, Seattle Attic, Spanning Tree
• PyStar
• Code n Splode

Pros:

• Lots of flexibility
• Can avoid a connotation that your group intends to be the only women's group with your scope (as opposed to "ProjectName Women" or "CityName Feminist Hackerspace"

Cons:

• May need a nearly permanent subtitle
• Not obvious in a passing reference that women are the intended audience