Opengender

Is Free/Libre Software a feminist issue? Policy-makers throughout the EU evince concern at the under-representation of women in the ICT training and industries. There's a growing body of research on the near absence of women in Free/Libre Software development. Software and gadget vendors are also anxious to tap the female market. But, much as with domestic violence, no-one seems to realise that technological exclusion begins at home. An exploration of why women are barely represented in Free/Libre Software also needs to begin at home.

I went to an academic 'do' recently in the Hallowed Halls of Oxbridge. Amongs much mutual congratulation and male bonhomie, Britain's principal authority on e-democracy divested himself of a policy recommendation that there should be a "Civic Commons" constituted as a coalition of governmental, media and civil organisations. Its function would be to bridge digital exclusion and address the crisis in democratic participation. The second respondent was a woman of clear analysis and compelling articulation—the only woman who spoke. The issue of gender was not raised by anyone at any point.

How does a collection of perfectly nice, open-minded, people end up forming a conflicted and discriminatory culture? This is the text of a particularly vicious flame sent to various women's FLOSS groups recently. It's a point of view which I know 99.9% recurring of FLOSS blokes would fall over each other rushing to distance themselves from. I'm only reproducing it here because the ranting of lunatics often articulates something uncomfortable and difficult about society – but which we may yet need to unpack:

Someone just asked me why I belong to a load of Facebook groups and what social activists can use them for. Good question — which I'm going to try to answer.

Why do I belong to the groups I belong to?

The Facebook groups I belong to fall into 4 main food groups: