[Linux-aus] geek feminism - from the other side

[Peter Miller]

Hi,

It may not necessarily be obvious, but I like working with women.  They
are at least as good as their male counterparts, and they usually work
far better in teams than males.  Given a chance, I will preferentially
hire women... which I have had the opportunity to do exactly once in
over 30 years (for lack of female applicants).  In 7 years, only Silvia
has ever come to codecon.

I realised a while back that everything I had thought of doing was,
well, "fatherly", literally a patron... and the last thing women want is
a patron... to be patronised.  Leaving me out of ideas.  So when Geek
Girl Dinners got started, I cheered -- from afar -- staying away
appeared to be more helpful.

I read the abstracts for some of the books cited, and they all appear to
either (a) document the existence of the problem, or (b) document some
education system successes.  None appear to address the industry as it
is today.

So, from my side of the chasm: what can a software engineer,
not-a-teacher, not-a-lecturer, bloke do to further the cause?


-- 
Peter Miller <peter.miller.aus at gmail.com>