On Mon, 16 Jan 2012, Alexander <[email protected]> wrote: > If we accept the premise that women would be equally interested in Free > Software in a society that did not discourage them from doing so or render > them less inclined to do so, then an ultimate goal of 50:50 seems pretty > fair.
The fair thing to do would be to not have every discussion about topics such as "encouraging women" end up being about basically everything else. Such constant derailing of discussions is often perceived as a hostile act. So far there has been no evidence presented to show that even having the same male:female ratio as proprietary software development is something that's achievable in the near future. So we should concentrate on just making things better instead of debating future issues. http://shakespearessister.blogspot.com/2009/08/terrible-bargain-we-have- regretfully.html As you apparently didn't read the above the first time I cited it I've pasted in paragraphs 11 and 12 to make it even easier for you to read it. # There are the occasions that men—intellectual men, clever men, engaged men— # insist on playing devil's advocate, desirous of a debate on some aspect of # feminist theory or reproductive rights or some other subject generally filed # under the heading: Women's Issues. These intellectual, clever, engaged men # want to endlessly probe my argument for weaknesses, want to wrestle over # details, want to argue just for fun—and they wonder, these intellectual, # clever, engaged men, why my voice keeps raising and why my face is flushed # and why, after an hour of fighting my corner, hot tears burn the corners of # my eyes. Why do you have to take this stuff so personally? ask the # intellectual, clever, and engaged men, who have never considered that the # content of the abstract exercise that's so much fun for them is the stuff of # my life. # # There is the perplexity at my fury that my life experience is not considered # more relevant than the opinionated pronouncements of men who make a pastime # of informal observation, like womanhood is an exotic locale which provides # magnificent fodder for the amateur ethnographer. And there is the haughty # dismissal of my assertion that being on the outside looking in doesn't make # one more objective; it merely provides a different perspective. -- My Main Blog http://etbe.coker.com.au/ My Documents Blog http://doc.coker.com.au/ _______________________________________________ Free-software-melb mailing list [email protected] http://lists.softwarefreedom.com.au/mailman/listinfo/free-software-melb
