[Linux-aus] Special support for women

[Donna Benjamin]

Wow.

I'd unsubscribed from the LA list and only recently rejoined.

I'm kinda stunned to read this, and tempted just to unsubscribe again but also ask how I actually resign my membership.

Except... David, I suspect your view is extreme and not widely held.

Affirmative action in communities that are unbalanced attempts to address the systemic issues that lead to that imbalance.

You seem to assume women are inferior and are getting special treatment.

Special treatment like being paid less? Or not hired in case she becomes pregnant? Or being assumed to be at a meetup or conference as someone's girlfriend...

Or... I don't know.

I probably just shouldn't reply.

But this pile of crap shouldn't pass unchecked either.

David Newall <davidn at davidnewall.com> wrote:
>(:-P   (tongue in cheek)
>
>Apparently we need special programmes to address an imbalance between 
>the sexes; in politics, employment, management and elsewhere, this is 
>widely accepted as appropriate.  Linux Australia is not immune to this;
>
>we give opportunities and support to females.  This puts an elephant in
>
>the corner: women gain opportunities at the expense of more capable (or
>
>more needy) men. This undermines their credibility; it raises
>reasonable 
>doubts about their competence.  Are they there from merit or merely to 
>make up the numbers?
>
>Maggie Thatcher was never PM to improve numbers; she was destined to be
>
>leader of UK; she earned the role.  Affirmative action needed no part
>in 
>her glory.  She was the best candidate.  Yet I think she must have 
>struggled to overcome doubt.  (Arguably she was better because of the 
>doubt, but that's for another day.)
>
>I say merit is blind to sex; it shines from inner strength.  I say 
>special programmes damage the interests they purport to serve.  How can
>
>someone be taken seriously if there was obligation to give a women the 
>place?  We do them naught but disservice by gifting favours that are 
>intrinsically merited.  We do naught but disservice by filling seats 
>with lesser competence.
>
>We see ourselves as a meritocracy; for sake of honesty and
>transparency, 
>our special programmes for women should candidly admit patronage of 
>incompetence over political correctness.  Let's cancel our "women in
>IT" 
>programmes and replace them with programmes that reward "incompetent 
>women in IT," or at least to widen eligibility to include hamsters and 
>fish.  That way, competent women, of which we have plenty, can leave no
>
>doubt that they won prestige merely on shining ability.
>
>Chew, swallow, digest.
>
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-- 
Donna Benjamin
@kattekrab
Sent from phone.
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