LDP/LDP/howto/docbook/Encourage-Women-Linux-HOWTO.xml

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<article id="Encourage-Women-Linux-HOWTO">
<title>HOWTO Encourage Women in Linux </title>

<articleinfo><author><firstname>Val</firstname><surname>Henson</surname></author>
	<pubdate>2002-10-29</pubdate>
	<revhistory id="revhistory"><revision><revnumber>1.1</revnumber>
			<date>2002-10-29</date>
			<authorinitials>VH</authorinitials>
			<revremark>Minor rewrites, typo fixes</revremark>
		</revision>
		<revision><revnumber>1.0</revnumber>
			<date>2002-10-25</date> 
			<authorinitials>JYG</authorinitials>
			<revremark>Fixed validation errors, added license, abstract, versioning, etc.</revremark>
		</revision>
		<revision><revnumber>.9</revnumber>
			<date>2002-10-01</date> 
			<authorinitials>VH</authorinitials>
			<revremark>Initial version</revremark>
		</revision>
	</revhistory>
<legalnotice><para>  Copyright (c) 2002 Val Henson  This document may be reproduced or distributed in any form, without prior permission, provided that all such copies or distributions include this copyright statement and the warranty disclaimer contained in this paragraph.  This document is provided on an "AS IS" basis only, with no warranties, express or implied. All usage of the information in this document is at your own risk. 
     
</para></legalnotice></articleinfo>

	<abstract><para>This article explains some of the difficulties  and biases women face in the Linux community and 
examines various strategies for addressing those difficulties in order to encourage more participation 
by women. </para></abstract>





<sect1><title>Introduction </title>

<para>At the 2002 Ottawa Linux Symposium, I hosted a LinuxChix Birds
Of a Feather session.  During the BOF and throughout the conference, I
heard the same set of questions:</para>

<para>"My girlfriend hates Windows, how can I encourage her to use
Linux?"</para>

<para>"Almost no women attend my local LUG.  How can I fix this?"</para>

<para>"Why aren't there more women in open source?"</para>

<para>Clearly, people in the Linux community would like for more women
to be involved in Linux, but most people don't know why so few women
are involved or how to change that.  This HOWTO is an effort to
summarize the explanations, recommendations, and opinions of the women
who already are interested and active in Linux.  This document began
with the verbatim recommendations of the women who attended the
LinuxChix BOF, and was added to by many more women in the months
following the original BOF.  In other words, this HOWTO represents the
feelings and opinions of real women involved in Linux.  While we
represent the women who "made it," we still have fairly important
insights into why other women left or never entered the Linux
community, as well as being keenly aware of the pressures which are
currently pushing us out of the community.</para>

<para>In this HOWTO, we'll talk about why women stay out of computing
in general, why they stay away from Linux in particular, and what you
can do to help encourage women in Linux.  We hope that this HOWTO will
result in more women using, installing, and developing Linux.</para>

<sect2><title>Audience</title>

<para>This document is intended mainly for the male Linux enthusiast
who would like to see more women involved in Linux.  Its secondary
audience is both men and women who have been too busy having fun with
Linux and computers to sit down and think about why most women don't
share their interests.  We hope you'll come away from this HOWTO with
some understanding of why women stay away from Linux and with a few
ideas about what you can do to reverse that trend.</para>

<para>This HOWTO is not directed towards people who aren't concerned
about the lack of women in Linux, or think that women are better off
staying away from Linux.  If you don't already believe that women are
being driven away from Linux and computers by external causes, this
HOWTO probably won't convince you otherwise (although it may give you
some interesting avenues of research to follow up on).</para>

<para>This HOWTO is definitely not intended to help male Linux geeks
find female Linux geeks to date.  The central paradox of women and
Linux is this: often, the people most anxious for more women in Linux
are also the people most likely to accidentally drive them away.
Frequently, men who want more women in Linux solely so they have a
better chance of finding a girlfriend end up acting in ways that end
up driving women away instead!  This HOWTO will try to explain which
behaviors drive women away from Linux and which behaviors encourage
them.</para>
</sect2>

<sect2><title>What problem?  Sexism is dead!</title>

<para>A sentiment I hear frequently: "What problem?  There's no
problem!  Sexism is dead!  Women are staying out of Linux because they
want to!"  If you feel this way, you may change your opinion by the
time you finish reading this HOWTO.  I also used to believe that
sexism was dead.  Shortly after joining several women in computing
mailing lists, I realized how wrong I was.  Week after week, women
have new stories about how they were discriminated against and
insulted because they were women.  These stories aren't decades old,
nor do they involve people who grew up when sexism was more
acceptable.  These are day-to-day experiences of today's women, in
modern settings, who are being driven out of their chosen profession
by sexism.  This isn't theoretical--many women actually leave the
field of computers entirely because of blatantly sexist incidents
involving superiors at work or at school.</para>

<para>Read the links below for my favorite example of modern-day
sexism: </para>

<para>Initial post to the Sydney LUG mailing list, by a woman:</para>

<para> <ulink url="http://lists.slug.org.au/archives/slug-chat/2001/October/msg00286.html">http://lists.slug.org.au/archives/slug-chat/2001/October/msg00286.html </ulink></para>

<para>Follow-up posts diagnosing the problem as "over-stressed female": </para>

<para><ulink url="http://lists.slug.org.au/archives/slug-chat/2001/October/msg00290.html">http://lists.slug.org.au/archives/slug-chat/2001/October/msg00290.html</ulink></para>

<para><ulink url="http://lists.slug.org.au/archives/slug-chat/2001/October/msg00312.html">http://lists.slug.org.au/archives/slug-chat/2001/October/msg00312.html</ulink></para>

<para>Gee, surprise, these two responses are enough to drive her away: </para>

<para><ulink url="http://lists.slug.org.au/archives/slug-chat/2001/October/msg00313.html">http://lists.slug.org.au/archives/slug-chat/2001/October/msg00313.html</ulink></para>

<para>Hysterically funny and heroic response from another woman: </para>

<para><ulink url="http://lists.slug.org.au/archives/slug-chat/2001/October/msg00317.html">http://lists.slug.org.au/archives/slug-chat/2001/October/msg00317.html</ulink></para>

<para>Despite the pointed sarcasm, obnoxious man still doesn't get it: </para>

<para><ulink url="http://lists.slug.org.au/archives/slug-chat/2001/October/msg00319.html">http://lists.slug.org.au/archives/slug-chat/2001/October/msg00319.html</ulink></para>

<para>A perfect response from a man who does get it: </para>

<para><ulink url="http://lists.slug.org.au/archives/slug-chat/2001/October/msg00321.html">http://lists.slug.org.au/archives/slug-chat/2001/October/msg00321.html </ulink></para>

<para>Sexism is alive and well, and it is driving women out of Linux.
You can argue that the Linux users joking about "over-stressed
females" in the above posts are ignorant, or stupid, or well-meaning,
or should in some way not be labeled sexist, but the result of their
actions is that women are leaving Linux, something we would like to
prevent.</para>
</sect2>

<sect2><title>About the author</title>

<para>Val Henson is a Linux kernel developer, an active member of LinuxChix,
and female.  Her interests include operating systems research, women
and computer science, and fine beer.  Many other women collaborated
with her to produce this HOWTO, including:</para>

<itemizedlist>
<listitem><para>Raven Alder</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Suzi Anvin </para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Poppy Casper </para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Claudia "Texchanchan" Crowley </para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Steph Donovan </para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Joy Goodreau</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Telsa Gwynne</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Amy Hieter </para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Hanna Linder </para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Anna McDonald </para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Marcia Barret Nice</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Miriam Rainsford </para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Carla Schroder </para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Jenn Vesperman </para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Jenny Wu </para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Megan "Piglet" Zurawicz </para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Safari </para></listitem>
<listitem><para>And many others who wish to remain anonymous.</para></listitem>
</itemizedlist></sect2>
</sect1>

<sect1><title>Why are there so few women in Linux?</title>

<para>Women stay out of Linux for many of the same reasons they stay
out of computing in general, plus a few reasons specific to Linux.
Many excellent books and research papers have investigated this topic
in depth, but we can only summarize the top reasons why women avoid
computing as a whole.  We'll also debunk some common theories about
why women stay out of computing in general.</para>

<para>Three good overall resources for the topic of women in computing
are:</para>

<para>"Unlocking the Clubhouse: Women in Computing" by Jane Margolis and Allan Fisher</para>
<para> <ulink url="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0262133989">http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0262133989 </ulink></para>

<para>Women in Computing Keyword List</para>
<para> <ulink url="http://women.acm.org/search/key_list.php">http://women.acm.org/search/key_list.php </ulink></para>
<para>(Some of the papers referred to by this list are available online, but not all.) </para>

<para>"Why Are There So Few Female Computer Scientists" by Dr. Ellen Spertus</para>
<para><ulink url="http://www.ai.mit.edu/people/ellens/Gender/pap/pap.html">http://www.ai.mit.edu/people/ellens/Gender/pap/pap.html </ulink></para>

<para>Let's start by examining two of the most common explanations for
why there are so few women in computing: "Women just aren't interested
in computers," and "Women aren't as smart as men."  The problem with
the statement, "Women just aren't interested in computers," is that it
doesn't actually say anything.  It's equivalent to answering the
question, "Why is the sky blue?" with "The sky just is blue."  The
implicit argument here is that women are genetically predetermined
from conception to not be interested in computers.  Very few people
are willing to say exactly that in so many words, but that is the
message behind the "just aren't" theory.  If you are unwilling to
accept that women's lack of interest in computing is genetically
predetermined (and I hope you aren't willing to accept it), you need
to start exploring what environmental causes are involved.</para>

<para>A more explicit version of this theory is that "Women aren't as
smart as men," or any of the usual corollaries--women aren't as good
at some skill as men are, usually mathematics, spatial reasoning, or
logic.  <citetitle>Newsweek</citetitle> regularly trumpets studies
finding gender-related mental differences while ignoring the (far more
common) studies which find no difference at all.  Frequently, other
researchers are unable to duplicate the results or find flaws in the
original researchers' methods, but those stories tend to get much
less press.  These studies also make no attempt to control for
differences in the upbringing of men and women.  For example, studies
frequently show that women have better developed linguistic capability
in some way.  This is taken as proof, at least by the press, that
women are genetically predisposed to be more verbal than men.  But at
the same time, studies also show that young women are rewarded more
than young men for verbalization.  The sheer existence of physical
differences between male and female brains (an idea still in dispute)
is not in and of itself proof that men and women are born with
differences in mental capacity.  We still need to separate out what
differences are caused by genetics, and which are caused by the
environment.  As a result, if you ask the experts, the only consensus
on gender-related mental differences is that there is no consensus.
This is an area of ongoing research, where results will continue to be
hotly debated for decades or centuries. (My personal opinion is that
men and women do have some innate, genetically based differences which
result in tendencies towards different behaviors, but I won't guess
what they are or how strongly they influence behavior.  Human beings
are extremely adaptable creatures, so I suspect the genetic
differences are minor compared to differences in environment.)
</para>

<para>
Something else to keep in mind is that similar arguments have been
made about many other fields when women first began joining them, from
medical science to education.  For example, women couldn't be doctors
because they weren't physically strong enough to set broken bones,
would faint at the sight of blood, or didn't have the proper bedside
manner.  Those arguments were abandoned when women turned out to be
just as good doctors and teachers as men were.  Maybe men will turn
out to be better at computer science than women, but history does not
support that hypothesis.</para>

<para>A good reference for the general topic of measuring differences
between human groups and the motivation behind those measurements is
<citetitle>The Mismeasure of Man</citetitle> by Steven Jay Gould.
Scientists have been "proving" differences in the brains and bodies of
groups of humans for centuries, although in hindsight both their
methods and their results were flawed.  For example, Stephen Jay Gould
reviews the methods of one scientist measuring skull capacity in men
and women of different races (and by implication, brain size and
intelligence).  The scientist originally measured the volume of the
skulls by packing them with linseed, which is somewhat compressible,
and confirmed his hypothesis that white men tended to have larger
skulls.  When he later remeasured the volume of the skulls with
incompressible lead shot, he discovered that much of the differences
in volume between the skulls disappeared.  He had been subconsciously
stuffing the skulls belonging to white males with more linseed than
the skulls belonging to women or non-white men.  Keep this story in
mind when you read studies claiming to find that some brain structure
is a different size in men and women.</para>

<para>Now that we've addressed some common misconceptions about women
and computing, let's look at the real reasons why women stay out of
Linux and computing.  I personally believe that the tendencies and
behaviors I'm about to describe are the result of the way most women
are raised, in other words, they are the result of gender
socialization.  I'm not claiming that women are born less confident,
or anything else, I'm just observing general tendencies in women and
pointing out how Linux culture discourages people with those
tendencies.  Many of the reasons I'm about to list also apply to
other underrepresented groups in computing or science.</para>

<sect2><title>Women are less confident</title>

<para>Women severely underestimate their abilities in many areas, but
especially with respect to computers.  One study about this topic is
<citetitle>Undergraduate Women in Computer Science: Experience,
Motivation, and Culture</citetitle>: <ulink url="http://www-2.cs.cmu.edu/~gendergap/papers/sigcse97/sigcse97.html">http://www-2.cs.cmu.edu/~gendergap/papers/sigcse97/sigcse97.html
</ulink></para>

<para>For example, while 53% of the male computer science freshman
rated themselves as highly prepared for their CS courses, 0% of the
female CS freshman rated themselves similarly.  But at the end of the
year, 6 out the 7 female students interviewed had either an A or B
average.  Objective ratings (such as grade point averages or quality
and speed of programming) don't agree with most women's
self-estimation.  I personally encountered this phenomenon: Despite
plenty of objective evidence to the contrary, including grades, time
spent on assignments, and high placement in a programming contest, I
still didn't consider myself to be at the top of my class in college.
Looking back objectively, it seems clear to me that I was performing
as well or better than many of the far more confident men in my
class.</para></sect2>

<sect2><title>Women have fewer opportunities for friendship or
mentoring</title>

<para>Like any other discipline, computer science is easier to learn
when you have friends and mentors to ask questions of and form a
community with.  However, for various reasons, men usually tend to
mentor and become friends with other men.  When the gender imbalance
is as large as it is in computer science, women find themselves with
few or no other women to share their interests with.  While women have
male friends and mentors, it's often harder and more difficult for
women to find a community and then to fit in with it.  Many women
leave the field who would have stayed if they had been male.</para>

<para>It's true that this is a feedback loop, fewer women in computing
leads to fewer women in computing.  It's important to understand that
this feedback loop causes women to leave computing who wouldn't have
left if, all other things being equal, they had been men.  This is
important because male classmates often assume their female
counterparts leave the field because they "just aren't good enough."
Women's low self-estimation contributes to this false
impression.</para></sect2>

<sect2><title>Women are discouraged from an early age</title>

<para>Societal pressure for women to avoid computing begins at an
extremely early age.  Preschoolers already have conceptions about
which jobs are men's jobs, and which jobs are women's.  An excellent
review of studies documenting gender role socialization from an early
age can be found in Dr. Ellen Spertus's excellent "Why are There so
Few Female Computer Scientists?" paper: <ulink url="http://www.ai.mit.edu/people/ellens/Gender/pap/node6.html">http://www.ai.mit.edu/people/ellens/Gender/pap/node6.html</ulink></para>

<para>Once you realize that men and women are treated differently
from, practically, birth, it becomes hard to claim that any woman
hasn't experienced discrimination.  Sure, if you're lucky, no one ever
explicitly told you that you couldn't work with computers because you
were a girl, but every time you raised your voice, an adult told you
to quiet down, while the boy next to you continued to shriek.  This is
a handicap later on in life, when being loud and insistent is the only
way to get your opinion heard--for example, on the linux-kernel
mailing list.</para>

<para>The most striking example of a subtle bias against computing for
women is that, in the U.S. at least, the family computer is more
likely to be kept in a boy's room than in a girl's room.  Margolis and
Fisher give several telling examples of this trend and its effects on
pages 22-24 of <citetitle>Unlocking the Clubhouse</citetitle>.</para>
</sect2>

<sect2><title>Computing perceived as non-social</title>

<para>Working with computers is perceived to be a solitary occupation
involving little or no day-to-day human contact.  Since women are
socialized to be more friendly, helpful, and generally more interested
in human interaction than men, computing tends to be less attractive
to women.  I want to stress that computing is only perceived to be a
non-social activity.  While it is possible for a programmer to be
relatively successful while being actively anti-social and programming
does tend to attract people less comfortable with human interaction,
computing is as social as you make it.  During college, I spent most
of my computer time in a computer lab at the school with several of my
best friends.  And recently, I changed jobs specifically in order to
have more day-to-day contact with other programmers.  For me,
programming by myself is less fun or creative than it is when I have
people around to talk to about my program.</para>

<para>
Oddly, many occupations which are arguably less social than computing
are still very attractive to women.  Writing, either fiction or
non-fiction, is a good example of a field that requires many hours of
solitary concentration to be successful.  Perhaps the answer to the
paradox lies in the perception of individual writers as still being
interested in social interaction, and just not having much opportunity
for it.</para>

</sect2>

<sect2><title>Lack of female role models</title>

<para>Women in computing do exist, but most people aren't lucky enough
to meet a female computer scientist.  Women are socialized to be
modest and avoid self-promotion, which makes them even less visible
than they might otherwise be.  Mothers and female schoolteachers
regularly protest that they don't know anything about computers.  As a
result, girls grow up without examples of women who are either
competent or confident with computers.  I encourage all women in
computing to be as visible as possible--accept all interviews, take
credit publicly--even when you don't want to.  You may be embarrassed,
but by allowing yourself to be publicized or promoted, you might
change a young girl's life.</para></sect2>

<sect2><title>Games, classes aimed towards men </title>

<para>We all know that most computer games are written by and for men.
They feature non-stop gore and women with unrealistically huge
breasts, but hey, if that's the market, what's the problem?</para>

<para>The best way I know how to illustrate the problem with the
computer game industry is to tell a story from a Salon.com article
(<ulink url="http://archive.salon.com/tech/feature/2001/05/22/e3_2001/">http://archive.salon.com/tech/feature/2001/05/22/e3_2001/
</ulink>) about the 2001 E3 gaming convention:</para>

<para> 
 "A creative director for a leading development team cheerfully
 described to me how its Q.A. team made a prostitute sport a game's
 logo on her body during a combination gonzo video/gangbang session."
</para>
      
<para>This was only one of many similar stories and events at the
conference.  How can an industry that views company-sponsored
gangbangs as somehow appropriate *not* be driving women out of the
computing arena in droves?</para></sect2> 

<sect2><title>Advertising, media say computers are for men</title>

<para>The next time you see a computer ad featuring a person, pay
attention to that person's gender.  Most likely, the person is a man.
Frequently, when I do see women in a computer ad, they're wearing
freakish makeup and some form of colorful skintight vinyl, or else
they're acting dumb and helpless and waiting for the man to show them
how to use the computer.  Often, they don't appear to actually be
using the computer and are just sort of decoratively posed near it.
Movies and TV shows are no better.  When a woman is depicted as a
programmer, often more screen time is spent admiring her shapely body
and kissable lips than demonstrating her competence as a programmer.
Notable example: Angelina Jolie in "Hackers."</para>

<para>Men and women are constantly bombarded with media images which
say: "Men use computers, women don't."  It's difficult to overcome
daily indoctrination of this sort.</para></sect2>

<sect2><title>Life-work balance more important to women</title>

<para>Being good at computing is considered to be an activity that
requires spending nearly all your waking hours either using a computer
or learning about them.  While this is another misperception, women
generally are less willing to obsess on one topic, preferring to lead
a more balanced life.  Women often believe that if they enter
computing, they will inexorably lose that balance, and avoid the field
altogether instead.  During college, I was personally very proud of
not spending my leisure time playing computer games because it refuted
the programmer stereotype of being at the computer all day, every
day.</para></sect2>

<sect2><title>Reasons women avoid Linux specifically</title>

<para>Linux development is more competitive and fierce than most areas
of programming.  Often, the only reward (or the major reward) for
writing code is status and the approval of your peers.  Far more
often, the "reward" is a scathing flame, or worse yet, no response at
all.  Since women are socialized to not be competitive and avoid
conflict, and since they have low self-confidence to begin with, Linux
and open source in general are even more difficult than most areas of
computing for women to get and stay involved in.</para></sect2>
</sect1>

<sect1><title>Do's and don't's of encouraging women in Linux</title>

<para>Encouraging women in Linux involves both learning what to do,
and learning what to stop doing.  We'll present our ideas in "do" and
"don't" pairs, since having only a list of things to do or a list of
things not to do is not as helpful as having both.  Some of these
suggestions may seem insultingly obvious to you personally, but for
many other people, they aren't obvious.  Each of these suggestions is
based on multiple real-life encounters with people for whom these
ideas weren't obvious.  Try not to dismiss any of the ideas--these are
real suggestions from real women, the women you presumably want to
attract to Linux.  Also, most of these suggestions are not
gender-specific, and will help to attract all types of people to
Linux.</para>

<sect2><title>Don't tell sexist jokes</title>

<para>Sexist jokes are the number one way to drive women out of any
group, and they are more common than many people realize.  I have more
than once heard a man say that he doesn't make that kind of joke, and
then hours or minutes later, hear the same person make a joke about
pregnant women or PMS.  Sometime he just doesn't realize that he made
a sexist joke, for example, "blonde jokes" are actually "dumb women"
jokes.  Sometimes he tells me that it's okay to make a sexist joke if
it's true, or it's funny (funny to whom?).  What some people fail to
realize is that jokes about gender of any sort almost always make fun
of women, and will make most women angry, regardless of the context.
It doesn't help to first make a sexist joke about men and then one
about women.</para>

<para>You can argue that women shouldn't be so sensitive (and I will
disagree with you) but even then, regardless of should or should not,
your comments and jokes are driving women away.  If that's not what
you want, then don't make sexist jokes.  If you're not sure if your
joke is sexist, find something else to say.</para></sect2>

<sect2><title>Do protest sexist jokes</title>

<para>The next time you see someone joking about women on your local
mailing list or in person, complain about it.  It's difficult to do
this without making yourself a target for ridicule, but it's even more
difficult for a woman to do the same thing.  Women keep silent when we
see sexist jokes because if we protest, we will immediately be
attacked for being over-sensitive, uptight, or a "feminazi." (Note:
NEVER use the term "feminazi."  It discredits all feminists, and
trivializes the victims of the Nazi Holocaust.  Consider how
ridiculous it sounds to call people like Rush Limbaugh "male
chauvinazis" and you may understand why "feminazi" is so emotionally
loaded.)</para>

<para>The best way to fight back against sexist jokes is with humor.
If someone replies to a post about the technical achievements of a
woman with "Is she single?" reply with, "Gee, Jeff, no wonder YOU'RE
still single."  Every time a woman sees a sexist joke or comment, she
feels angry, left out, and belittled.  Every time a woman sees a man
stand up against this behavior, she feels included and
valued.</para></sect2>

<sect2><title>Don't call people bitches</title>

<para>Using the word "bitch" (and several other words) is derogatory
to women, no matter whom the word is referring to.  I wouldn't have
bothered to include this except that it's apparently not as obvious as
I thought, as I have recently heard Linux developers use "bitch" in a
serious manner with apparent nonchalance.</para></sect2>

<sect2><title>Do show some respect</title>

<para>Talk respectfully about all women, not just the women you're
attracted to, as well as all other kinds of humans of all ages and
appearances.  If you don't do this, women will tend to assume that you
will treat them as badly as the people you're insulting and avoid
you. </para></sect2>

<sect2><title>Don't take the keyboard away </title>

<para>This is a general problem when teaching anyone something new,
but it happens more often to women.  Someone asks a question, and
instead of telling that person the answer, you take away the keyboard
and type in the command yourself.  Don't do this!  It makes it much
more difficult to learn and it makes the other person feel stupid and
helpless.  In general, give people a chance to learn how to do things
themselves if they're interested in learning.  You may think you're
doing a friend a favor by fixing her Apache configuration while she's
gone, but if she's trying to learn how to configure Apache, then
you're not actually helping her.</para></sect2>

<sect2><title>Do give directions and explain them clearly</title>

<para>While it is much harder for you to take the time and patience to
explain what to do and why, and then spell out the command to type,
it's worth it in the long run because the other person is learning and
you're less likely to ever have to answer that question again.
Specifically, women will feel more confident in their own abilities if
you allow them to type the command themselves.</para></sect2>

<sect2><title>Don't make sexual advances towards women</title>

<para>Imagine a bar or a pub full of sports fans, fans of a game which
you don't know much about or like.  Imagine that they're all taller
and stronger than you, speak in a language you only halfway
understand, and belittle anyone who isn't totally focused on their
sport.  Now imagine that you walk into this bar, wearing a shirt that
says, "I AM NOT A FAN OF ANY SPORT."  Just imagine it for a minute.
How would you feel?  Nervous?  Afraid?  Different?  Out of
place?</para>

<para>You begin to have a teeny-tiny idea of what it's like to be the
only woman in a large group of men.</para>

<para>Keep that feeling of nervousness in mind when you read the rest
of this paragraph.  When you immediately make a sexual advance to a
woman at a LUG or online, you're making her feel like she's not part
of the community, like she's under attack, and like she is risking
being ostracized if she turns you down or offends you.  Remember, this
isn't a friendly one-on-one situation where she feels comfortable
turning you down, she's surrounded by the equivalent of the
aforementioned huge sports fans.  She's trying to fit in and be part
of the group, and by hitting on her, you're cutting her out of the
herd and isolating her from the group.  Women grow up with the
constant fear and awareness of being attacked by men, and as silly as
it may seem, it colors all her interactions, no matter how safe or
mundane they may seem to men.</para>

<para>Like any other human being, a woman wants to have friends and be
appreciated for who she is.  Every time she gets an email asking her
on a date, she is reminded that she isn't viewed as part of the group,
but instead as different, an object of desire, and is certainly not
being judged on her technical merit alone.</para>

<para>This may be hard to stomach, but you need to not hit on women
who show up for Linux events, at least not right away.  In all
likelihood, you are NOT throwing away your only chance at true love by
not coming on to her immediately, but you are throwing away your
chance to have a fun new member of the Linux community.  And even if
you still think you're missing a chance at true love, keep in mind
that many women brave enough to show up at a LUG or your local mailing
list will frequently make the first move anyway.  By hitting on them
at the first opportunity, you're scaring them away, and you're also
scaring away all the other women who might have become interested if
the first woman had stayed.</para>

<para>This goes double for women you meet over email or on IRC.  You
may think that your "Are you single?" line is hysterically witty and
suave, but she's heard it a million times.  Even if you're joking,
even if you already have a girlfriend or are married--don't do
it.</para></sect2>

<sect2><title>Do act friendly</title>

<para>When women aren't being hit on, we're often being completely
ignored, instead.  This isn't any better.  Women new to a group often
want the same things men want - we want to feel welcomed, we want to
talk about subjects of mutual interest, we want to make friends.  When
a woman says something, listen and respond in a friendly manner.
Start a conversation and find a topic you're both interested in
talking about.  Don't assume that because she's a woman, she has
stereotypically female interests or opinions, instead, keep an open
mind and listen for clues about what she is interested in.  Most
likely, she has interests beyond hair, makeup, and movie stars if
she's involved in Linux.</para>

<para>Several women have complained that all men seem to be able to
talk about with them is why women stay away from computers.  While
it's an important issue, women would like to talk about something else
most of the time, and we would especially not like to be reminded of
how "weird" we are when we first join a group.  Wait until she's
settled in and feels comfortable before bringing up the subject if
you're curious about it.</para></sect2>

<sect2><title>Don't complain about the lack of women in computing</title>

<para>It's useful and constructive to talk about the lack of women in
computing when you are approaching it from the viewpoint of the women
who are being left out of an exciting and rewarding field.  It's sad
and pathetic to talk about the lack of women in computing from the
viewpoint of a man who blames his lackluster love life on the lack of
women in computing.  The best way to annoy and drive away women is to
talk about the lack of women in computers in this way.  Here are some
of the more common reactions of a woman listening to a man whine about
the lack of women in his field:</para>

<itemizedlist>
<listitem><para>"What am I, invisible?  Does he know I'm here?"  </para></listitem>
<listitem><para>"Good to hear that I exist only to serve lonely men."  </para></listitem>
<listitem><para>"Pathetic.  You're so pathetic."</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>"Then why don't you do something about it instead of complaining?"</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>"Once again, everyone assumes that only men are listening." </para></listitem>
<listitem><para>"Maybe I shouldn't be in this field."</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>"What's wrong with me that I'm here and other women aren't?" </para></listitem>
<listitem><para>"He's so self-centered."  </para></listitem>
<listitem><para>"No wonder he doesn't have a girlfriend."  </para></listitem>
<listitem><para>"Not only am I in a meat market, I'm the chopped liver." </para></listitem>
</itemizedlist>

<para>As you can see, not only does whining about the lack of women
make you annoying to women, it also makes the women who are here more
likely to leave.  In no case does it result in a woman being more
likely to date you.</para></sect2>

<sect2><title>Do encourage women in computing </title>

<para>Instead of complaining about the lack of women, start doing
something about it.  Take women's complaints seriously (starting with
this HOWTO), read the studies on why women avoid computers, math, and
science in general, and find ways that you can help encourage women.
Be encouraging and supportive when other people discuss the reasons
why women are being driven out of computing.  If you have the
opportunity, try to mentor women.  Mentoring means guiding,
encouraging, and counseling someone in their education and career.
Not everyone is capable of mentoring, and it's difficult to find
compatible mentors and mentees, but when it does work out, the results
can be spectacular.  Don't, however, think of mentoring as a way to
find a girlfriend - all a mentor gets out of the relationship is
reflected glory from your student and the joy of watching another
person grow.</para></sect2>

<sect2><title>Don't stare and point when women arrive</title>

<para>Nobody likes being stared or pointed at.  Why would a
woman like it either?  Many women complain that when they walk into a
room of Linux enthusiasts, suddenly, the conversation stops, everyone
turns around and looks, and few people even point to make sure their
buddies can see what everyone is staring at.  This is intimidating and
unpleasant, and more than enough to make a woman swear never to
return.</para>

<para>A good quote from Mia, a women in Linux: <blockquote><para>
"I've never bothered going to a LUG but I've been to other geek events
where everyone has turned around and stared when I walked in... it
felt more like the 'stranger walks into a bar scene' in a western than
anything else."</para></blockquote></para></sect2>

<sect2><title>Do treat new arrivals politely</title>

<para>When a woman walks into a LUG meeting or posts on a mailing
list, act nonchalant.  Try as much as possible to treat her like any
other person you would like to have as part of your group.  Remember,
it's not flattering to remind her that she's one of a kind, special,
rare, or weird.  Start pretending that women are a normal part of the
Linux community and you'll go a long way towards making that a
reality.</para></sect2>

<sect2><title>Don't treat women stereotypically </title>

<para>Don't assume that all women like cooking, sewing, and babies,
and are at the LUG or on the mailing list only because their
boyfriend, son, or husband are interested in Linux.  One woman says
that every time someone in her LUG explained something to her, they
would use an analogy to cooking or babies, assuming that those were
the subjects she was most familiar with.  Don't assume we aren't
interested in cars, math, fighter jets, or robotics.  Don't assume
that we don't know how to compile a kernel--I personally know at least
fifteen women who can compile their own kernels and several of those
also write kernel code.  If you're lucky, one of them will show up to
your LUG or mailing list, and you wouldn't want to insult her by
assuming she couldn't even install her own machine.  Don't assume that
she got interested in computers because she liked to chat or send
instant messages.  Women are about as likely to cuss as men--don't do
a double-take if you cuss in front of a woman.  If she's read any of
the kernel code (notably arch/sparc/), she's heard of the word "fuck"
before.</para></sect2>

<sect2><title>Do treat women as normal people </title>

<para>As much as you can, act like the women in your group are just
normal people, because we are just normal people.  Some people
complain, "Women want to be treated just like normal people, but then
they tell me not to make sexist jokes around them!  That's a paradox!"
Well, if you define "normal people" as "the men I usually hang out
with," then it is a paradox.  If you include women in your definition
of "normal people," and then treat normal people in a fair and
respectful way, then women don't require any special treatment.
</para>

<para>If you're still unsure of how to treat women, try the following:
Be friendly but not overbearing, be casual, start conversations the
way you normally do, move on when the conversation is over.  If you
spend most of your time around a very specific subset of the male
population, you will have to change your behavior to some degree, but
this is just as true as if you were talking to a man from a totally
different background.  If you find that you have to heavily modify
your behavior in order to not offend women, you should consider
changing your behavior in all circumstances.  No one is fooled if you
simply stop making sexist jokes when women are around but continue to
make them when (you think) women aren't around.</para></sect2>

<sect2><title>Don't criticize too much</title>

<para>Women are socialized to be far more sensitive to criticism than
men, as well as more critical of themselves.  As a result, women are
far more likely to be driven off by heavy or unfair criticism than
men.  When you're tempted to criticize, try to remember that
absolutely no one was born knowing how to compile a kernel and that at
one point, you didn't know anything about Linux, either.  People will
lose interest in something if they perceive themselves as being bad at
it, so if you want someone to continue being interested in Linux,
don't criticize her so much that she believes she isn't any good at
it.</para></sect2>

<sect2><title>Do compliment</title>

<para>Women have much lower self-confidence than men on average, and will
generally judge themselves far more harshly than any outsider.
Compliments help improve her self-confidence, which in turn keeps her
interested in the subject.  If she believes that she's not good at
Linux, she'll probably stop working on Linux.</para>

<para>The following are some guidelines for complimenting anyone:

<itemizedlist>

<listitem><para>Be sincere and truthful.  If you really think her program is
an ugly piece of garbage, don't tell her that you admire its syntactic
beauty.  Find something you can honestly admire and compliment
that.</para></listitem>

<listitem><para>Be specific.  "You're good at Linux," is meaningless, "You
always know which distribution to recommend," is specific and
therefore meaningful.</para></listitem>

<listitem><para>Be appropriate.  Don't compliment a kernel developer on
installing Linux.  Don't compliment a gimp developer on her use of
layers.  Be sure that your compliment actually reflects a significant
accomplishment rather than demonstrating your ignorance of her level
of expertise.</para></listitem>

<listitem><para>Compare to yourself.  If she learned bash scripting more
quickly than you did, tell her so.  Say, "Wow, you learned bash
scripting after X months.  It took me 2*X months to learn that."  Or
if she made a silly compilation mistake, tell her about your worst
compilation mistake.  When she learns that her mistakes are not
unusual, she'll feel better.</para></listitem>

<listitem><para>Compliment before you criticize.  If you do have a
constructive piece of criticism, it's a good idea to start out by
telling her what she did right.</para></listitem>

<listitem><para>Compliment and don't criticize.  Don't always follow a
compliment with a criticism.  More often, compliment her and be done
with it.</para></listitem>

<listitem><para>Don't brag.  Saying, out of the blue, "She can compile her own
kernel!" and beaming fondly upon her is not complimentary, it's
bragging about her abilities as if you are responsible in some way for
her success.  Parents are especially prone to bragging.  Pointing out
her expertise in an unobtrusive and subtle manner is much better -
"Oh, well, if you have a question about kernel compilation, she might
be able to help you better than I can."  When someone points out my
capabilities in this manner, it's indescribably wonderful.</para></listitem>

</itemizedlist>
</para>

<para>You almost certainly shouldn't compliment her on her hair, her
face, her body, or her sweet temperament.  If she's interested in
Linux, she is, by definition, a geek, and probably wants to be
complimented on her intelligence, abilities, and hard work.
Compliment her on installing Linux for the first time, on her
customized desktop, on her intelligent and interesting questions
during the last meeting.  A compliment on anything else is
inappropriate and will be seen as a sexual advance (because it almost
always is), and will make her feel more uncomfortable and less
confident.</para>
</sect2>

<sect2><title>Don't invite only male speakers </title>

<para>If all your speakers are always men, women will notice and not
feel welcome.  Role models people can identify with are important to
staying interested in a field.</para></sect2>

<sect2><title>Do ask women to speak</title>

<para>It's surprisingly easy to find technically brilliant female
computer scientists willing to come speak to your group.  If you
explain that you are trying to encourage women in computers, many
women will be even more likely to speak at your event.  Women speakers
are probably the number one way to get women to come to your event.
They will be able to see a role model, ask her questions about her
experiences, and for a few hours at least, not feel like the only
woman who's interested in computers.  Be sure that when you do invite
a woman speaker that you advertise the event well, especially to
women.</para>

<para>One woman says that she noticed her LUG paid less attention to
and was ruder to women speakers.  She thought it might be because the
members dismissed the possibility of her knowing anything they didn't
already know.  Be sure not to let this happen to your women
speakers.</para>
</sect2>

<sect2><title>Don't micro-specialize</title>

<para>Maybe you and your friends are perfectly happy to show up to
your local LUG and talk about the same topics (the latest video card,
first-person shooters, robots) every week, but for whatever reason,
few women have the endless interest in minutiae that men often
display.  Try not to have all your speakers talk about
micro-specialties, or always discuss the same areas of
robotics.</para></sect2>

<sect2><title>Do discuss broader topics</title>

<para>Arrange for speakers on a wider range of issues than just
technical specialties.  Women tend to be more interested in political
and social issues surrounding computing, and women also tend to have a
broader range of technical interests within computer science.  Try
scheduling a discussion on compilers if you always end up talking
about USB, or a review of the open source licenses instead of
endlessly rehashing the discussion about binary-only Nvidia
modules.</para></sect2>

<sect2><title>Don't make your meetings hard to attend</title>

<para>About the worst LUG meeting possible: 10pm on Monday night, in a
warehouse in downtown, the unmarked entrance is in a deserted and
poorly lit alleyway, and no public transport is nearby.  Oh, and we're
serving pizza (choices: meat, double meat, and extra spicy meat) and
cheap beer.  Did I mention we're going out to a sports bar
afterward?</para></sect2>

<sect2><title>Do make meetings easy to attend</title>

<para>As usual, following these suggestions will make your meetings
more attractive to everyone.  Try to schedule your meetings at family
and school friendly times - not too late in the evening.  Make sure
your meeting is in a safe, well lit place with easy access to public
transportation, if your city has any.  If you want new people to
attend, the meeting place should be clearly marked and easy to find.
If you serve food or drink, try to vary the menu a bit.  After an
informal survey, we discovered that women tend to prefer sandwiches,
fruit, and vegetables instead of pizza.  Chinese takeout is one way to
easily provide a variety of different food.  Consider having a
vegetarian menu option.  If members of the LUG socialize outside
meetings, try to do things which are welcoming to people of different
backgrounds.</para></sect2>

<sect2><title>Don't make new people feel unwelcome</title>

<para>If a new person shows up and all the established people refuse
to talk to or acknowledge the new person, the new person is unlikely
to come back.  Most likely, everyone is just too shy to say hello, but
that doesn't make any difference.  Additionally, if other members
immediately attack or challenge or just ignore everything the newcomer
has to say, she won't be interested in returning.</para></sect2>

<sect2><title>Do help new people get involved</title>

<para>Ask new people to introduce themselves and talk about their own
projects and interests for a bit.  Try more informal meeting styles -
instead of a speaker and a silent audience, have a panel question and
answer session or a round table discussion. Let members speak for a
few minutes on their own projects, so new people who share their
interests know who to talk to.  If you have someone who doesn't mind
speaking to strange people, ask them to serve as host and welcome new
people to the group or mailing list.</para></sect2>

<sect2><title>Don't underestimate girlfriends or wives</title>

<para>Many women involved in Linux or computing are also dating or
married to men with similar interests.  Many people then assume that
the woman is only interested in Linux because her boyfriend or husband
is.  Women are sometimes introduced to Linux through a boyfriend
(which shouldn't make their interest less valid or less important).
More often, women become interested in Linux or computing, start
making friends and meeting people in the field, and because there are
so few women in the field, we unsurprisingly often have little
difficulty finding a person to date in the same field.  Don't conclude
that because most women in Linux are dating or married to someone also
involved in Linux, that women are only interested in Linux because of
that relationship.  For many women, interest in Linux predates her
current relationship.  I personally became interested in Linux while I
was dating an English major who wouldn't know an operating system if
it walked up and bit him.</para>

<para>One of the LinuxChix reports that her first invitation to speak
at a conference was as a member of a panel entitled "Wives of
Hackers."  The prominent open source celebrity who suggested the panel
didn't understand why she was insulted.  After all, her own work in
open source was apparently insignificant compared to being the wife of
a famous kernel hacker.</para> </sect2>

<sect2><title>Do treat girlfriends and wives as independent people</title>

<para>Girlfriends or wives of people interested in Linux also have
their own lives and accomplishments, and frequently those are also in
the area of Linux or open source or computing.  Instead of treating
her as an adjunct to her boyfriend or husband, recognize that she has
her own interests and areas of expertise, and talk to her about
them.</para></sect2>
</sect1>

<sect1><title>But I don't do that! </title>

<para>This is perhaps a good time for some introspection.  At the
LinuxChix BOF at Ottawa Linux Symposium, we finished listing all the
reasons why women stayed away from LUGs.  A man from the local LUG
raised his hand and said that no one at his LUG did any of the things
we complained about, but they were still having difficulty attracting
women.  A woman from the same LUG raised her hand and said, "Yes, they
do."  She went on to say that only a few "bad apples" were doing these
things, but those few were enough to drive off most women.  This is a
very important point: if your group has nine helpful and polite
members, and one rude, sexist, loud member, most women are going to
continue to stay away because of that one member.  I realize that this
isn't fair to the other people in the group, but that's reality.  If
your group is stuck with one bad apple, try a little peer pressure the
next time he does something that will drive off women.  Reply to his
email, disagree with what he says--establish that you don't share his
opinions.  Just knowing that there is one other person in the group
who is willing to publicly disagree with the "bad apple" will help
immensely, and will make women more willing to stay.</para>

<para>In my own experience, I have over and over again heard a man say
that he doesn't do any of these things, and then observed him hours or
minutes later doing exactly what he claimed he doesn't do.  I don't
think any of those men were lying, just completely unaware.  Making
sexist jokes or comments seems to be the most unconscious behavior -
many men just don't realize that what they're saying is offensive to
women.</para>

<para>Also, it's definitely possible to have good intentions and still
drive away women.  You may think you're encouraging a woman by
congratulating her on being brave enough to show up to an event, but
you're actually pointing out to her that she's weird and unusual,
rather than making her feel like part of the community.  As one woman
put it, "I know I'm an alien. You don't need to emphasize it."  We're
hoping that this HOWTO will help you realize when you are
unintentionally driving away women.</para>

<para>If you're curious about how your behavior appears to women, my
best suggestion is to find a woman you know who tends to be blunt and
outspoken, and ask her if she remembers you saying or doing something
offensive to women.  You might be surprised at her response.
Remember, most women would rather chew off a leg than be rude to a man
to his face, so it may be difficult to get an honest
answer.</para></sect1>

<appendix>
<title>LinuxChix </title>

<para>LinuxChix is an active and growing organization run by and for
women who are interested in Linux.  Founded by Deb Richardson and
currently run by Jenn Vesperman, LinuxChix specializes in providing a
supportive and friendly environment for all Linux users and
developers, but especially for women.  LinuxChix is run by an
international group of volunteers who believe in the importance of
including women in the Linux community.  Men may join LinuxChix, but
the focus is on women and we attempt to maintain a female-dominated
environment.  The women involved in LinuxChix include several Linux
kernel developers, a Mozilla developer, a member of the GNOME
foundation, an O'Reilly author, system administrators, computer
consultants, security experts, students from high school to
Ph.D. level in many fields, literally hundreds of programmers of
various sorts, and many computer hobbyists.  If you are a woman
interested in Linux, or you know a woman who is, LinuxChix is an
excellent place to find a peer group.</para>

<para>LinuxChix has recently added a number of features, web
resources, and mailing lists.  If you visited it more than a few
months ago, you may want to take a second look.  New features include
Linux kernel hacking lessons, several new mailing lists, online
programming courses, book and software reviews, and much much more.
Many LinuxChix chapters have started or restarted recently (chapters
exist to bring LinuxChix together for face-to-face meetings).  The
LinuxChix "development process" is open and friendly.  We welcome new
volunteers and ideas, just subscribe to the mailing lists and offer to
help.</para>

<para>
You can find out more about LinuxChix at our website:
</para>

<para>
<ulink url="http://www.linuxchix.org">http://www.linuxchix.org</ulink>
</para>
</appendix>
</article>