This page describes some techniques for hosting women-friendly discussions and forums, especially online.
- Have a zero tolerance policy concerning online harrassment and enforce it.
- Don't allow sexist jokes. It's impossible for a woman to tell if you "really" mean it, and even if you don't it will be tedious and insulting for her to spend her time ignoring or humouring sexist jokes.
- Write all of your introductory material in such a way that a woman will recognise herself in it just as much as a man will. Use "she" to describe readers in various places, and use female names for some of your hypothetical examples when you have them.
- Unless your group has an explicitly sexual purpose, minimise the discussion of the sexual desires of participants. Many women (entirely justifiably) fear online harrassment in sexual contexts.
- Involve women in the creation and governance of your forum at every level.
- If there is an anti-feminist incident in your forum, apologise simply. Don't use phrasing that suggests that only women would have found the incident upsetting, or that you would have found the incident unproblematic if there weren't complaints. Don't tell women how they should feel about the incident: listen to them describe how they feel.
- Women are often placed in the role of "nanny" in forums. Don't leave the enforcement of social norms to the women members of the group.