whiterabbit2

Where those women "to protect" are treated like babies who have no say of their own.

No, it's more like you learn through media that you talk has been cancelled because of some organization's "biased interpretation of unclear events".

So, women who signed up to those repositories had no say in this decision? I think they should've been asked first, what THEY want. Some projects might have contributors on GitHub. Ada Initiative promises to accommodate those people, but why weren't they talked to and accommodated before making this decision? It's so much for Ada Initiative "helping" women treating them merely like pawns.

An agreement that a spouse shouldn't work in the office. Gosh, this is even worse then the original complaint. In California you can't have such agreements, this is marital status discrimination. I don't know what kind of job Teresa was doing, but even thought she wasn't on a payroll, being a volunteer or an informal adviser is perfectly acceptable. If anything might be wrong here, this would be mixing up corporations or such. But employees are in the company to do their job, not to control borders, and "this person is not supposed to be here" sounds territorial and toxic. You're busy, not open for certain interactions, tell about it. I suspect it wasn't Julie who got harassed, especially combined with spreading gossip. And I find it incredibly sexist consistently referring to a professional woman as a "wife". Compare to: "I insist that this engineer/marketer/director shouldn't be on the floor".

Very good post, right on. I'm a woman, dealt with a number of more unpleasant situations, but wouldn't accept my life shuttered because somebody told me so. It's only beneficial for drama queens/kings, while naive people are thrown into the state of helplessness and hysteria without even realizing it. It's totally the opposite to the women empowerment, the one we want.

I would add 2 things - according to his (now removed, but still available in wayback machine) blog http://web.archive.org/web/20130923014010/http://objo.com/ Joe O'Brian wrote that he was looking for professional help with mental issues or such in June 2013 (substance abuse? a rehab?). So, now the internet is lynching a sick person who already realized a problem and was seeking help? How nice. While the other side blames her drinking problems on the society and "male industry" (how childish).

Second, having dealt with drunk men myself (no drugs or guns involved, just alcohol - like in the story). A slap in the face usually works very well to help him keep his hands to himself. If it still doesn't work, a good smash in the face and moving away works even better. Unless, a lady gets so plastered that she can't move or use her brain, or she's a damsel in distress type. Then her life was ruined long before somebody put a hand into her pants.

It depends on the definition of "talented". If "me myself and everybody like me" then it's very logical.

I tried my own comments from this page. The majority gives me around 70-85% male (I'm a feminine female). But adding one comment which was talking "childcare" and such gave me "only" a weak male (saying it might indicate European). It's so stereotypical. Interesting also how it divides people into males, females and Europeans (the "weak" versions).

I looked up Hungarian laws, and the problem is not the government involvement, but that there is a huge difference between maternity and paternity leave (3 years vs 5 days). This somehow doesn't fit "anti-discrimination", as it's quite the opposite.

For tech companies it shouldn't be a problem to interview candidates blindly. Give some questions as written tests and coding assignments. If talking is necessary, there is software changing voice pitch. Skype has a plugin like that. Just interview a candidate sitting in another room, streaming what they write and use the same voice settings for all candidates. My impression that nobody uses written tests because companies want to keep bias, not to eliminate it.

I have saved a really good booklet from my past employer about sexual harassment. Sexual harassment is actually gender neutral, and it doesn't have to be about sexual advances. Moreover, a man can be harassed by another man, as much as much as a woman can be harassed by another woman (happens way too often in my experience). The legal definition says harassment should be both severe enough and impose gender inequality (i.e. telling dirty jokes to both men and women doesn't constitute sexual harassment as long as they are not more derogatory to one gender). The problem is that there are too many stereotypes about sexual harassment, some are spread by corporations themselves (because they try to avoid lawsuits, nothing to do with employee fair treatment).

Women "more likely" to drop out to provide childcare doesn't make it "100% women". But without fixing problems of families with small children (lack of affordable childcare, culture of long hours and such), anti-discrimination laws only create more discrimination and stereotyping... All women would be stereotyped as risky. I've known quite a few men providing childcare and needing flex hours, while their wives are too busy at work. Yet, such men are stereotyped as an exception. Because asking questions and deciding on a case by case basis is illegal, so it's a breeding ground for stereotyping.

> Some set of hiring managers assumed a mother with kids would likely focus more on family then career.

In the present times, some set of managers would assume it for ANY woman of childbearing age. And if a woman doesn't have kids, she's assumed to get pregnant and go on maternity leave.

REALLY? I'm a subscriber of a few lists for women in tech (Systers included), only one posted the link (followed by no comments). Systers tech talk posted nothing. Systers-dev and -foss, neither. Although, I'm probably subscribed to wrong groups... such as women working in tech (including learners), mostly programming. Not lists for people having problems with programming.

It's exactly "the teacher" telling an adult woman that she needs a private repository because learning coding is hard, and she needs extra protection from having it open sourced. Women just can't go ahead and do open source, period, they need a backup plan. How exactly is it encouraging and fair to women? You completely missed the point that it wasn't about the free repos. On a top of it, it's Ada Initiative giving their own space on GitHub (upon you emailing them, sigh), not GitHub itself. I myself wouldn't sign up to them, they sound quite toxic and politicized... (for the reference, I'm a woman, a software developer).

I agree. However I still don't see how a "dongle" joke (regardless of conference policies) makes it to "sexism towards women" as appeared on the Richards' blog. I think the point is to say "I myself am not comfortable with this kinds of jokes, stop it". But making gender generalizations and "taking actions for the community"... well, this is sexist towards women and assumes no personal responsibility. I'm a woman, but I didn't appoint any "evangelist" to speak for me. It's actually more alienating then any off color jokes.

Oh, I would say "none of his f*cking business". As a woman, you don't need to even be a developer to get this kind of "attention" on a regular basis.

What's always very frustrating, some guy may hold a grudge or be sexist... but why does he always find so many supporters, like those who visited his web site and sent this woman emails? People who shouldn't have anything against this woman but just can't keep themselves from attacking her. Frat house? Too many people in this industry don't seem to ever graduate from it.

Except women have a good chance to be turned down before even being seen in person... (unless, their resume clearly indicates they are juniors and they have nice pictures on FB).

And, yeah, the "approval" thing is actually something like "admiration" and implies that this woman is an inferior professional. If she happens to be a strong professional, it's not desirable for a man to be next to this woman, as it will bring down his own value. It would be more desirable to be next to an older superior man.

To those who keep arguing whether the complains were valid. There is just one thing that makes it racist - referring to "culture fit" and then letting this guy go wasn't a "joke". This is discrimination.

I find that it's laziness and inertia. Looking at the developer's code and running it, reading their articles on the subject and such requires more work then reading the line "10+ years" and we're done!

My school didn't have computers, and my parents didn't see a point of buying me one, even when I made a decision to go to college. So, I built one. It took some time to collect the better parts as my own money was very limited. I collected 2 computers and a lot of junk in my room. Anyone to beat it? (just kidding). I'm foreign born and my sex is "F".

I largely attribute the problem to the culture of competition and entitlement instilled today on kids by their parents (makes me feel old), especially boys and especially non-technical parents. It's like "oh, my, he/she is so smart playing with THIS thing". Then this kid goes to college and feels they need to challenge everybody, and feels intimidated when somebody is better. How can somebody else dare to have an A+ on a test and ask questions to the teacher? I will pop up and ask smarter questions for the sake of it. Or withdraw from this major because I don't feel belonging. I'm entitled to feel that I'm a great programmer. And so on. This culture doesn't teach to just diligently do your assignments/job and collect your A+s/money. A clique of arrogant nerds sounds like an oxymoron to me.

I have a young relative whose computer skills are overpraised in the family even though they are nothing special. He had his first computer when he was 6, my old one. He knows how to create a powerpoint presentation, and attended a class how to build a web page, but when I offered to teach him to program, it wasn't taken (yet?). He's an A student, smart, but not very creative, doesn't take things apart out of curiosity and arrogant out of proportion, if there is any to arrogance. He ridiculed me when I wasn't able to find some button in Skype fast enough. In a few years he will be one of those "I'm a genius" kids in college, and his mother is already planning how she pays off his graduate education to get him the best job.