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

[Eyal Lebedinsky]

Mmm. I resent the claim that men (which I am one) are somehow inferior
to women in IT. So far the discussion was a bit more balanced,
suggesting that equal talent should provide equal opportunity. I prefer
to avoid a pissing contest.

Like you, I have next to no experience working with women peers, but
this leads me to *not* have a preference, due to lack of (personal)
evidence.

About the term geek-feminism: So far I find (from my personal
encounters) that the term geek, of the hardcore variety, does not
describe the same thing for men and women. Somehow, the two camps have
distinct character, and the two do not necessarily mix well.

cheers
	Eyal

On 01/03/2011 08:46, Peter Miller wrote:
> 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?