Mentoring and diversity for Python [LWN.net]

Mentoring and diversity for Python

Posted Jun 24, 2018 9:03 UTC (Sun) by anselm (subscriber, #2796)
In reply to: Mentoring and diversity for Python by bobbytables
Parent article: Mentoring and diversity for Python

If you have reached the stage where you should be presenting, there should be no need any more to have the pseudonym, you can go public from then on as your value as been proved, women, minority or not.

That is not how things actually work out in Real Life™. There are women who are at the top of their respective areas of expertise but they still get hit on and/or belittled by (male) sleazebags at conferences (and elsewhere).

Also, there's an obvious incongruity in saying that in a free-software “true meritocracy”, women should just adopt pseudonyms in order to ensure that their work will be judged on its merits because nobody knows they're women. In an actual meritocracy, people's work would be judged on its merits no matter what name they're using for themselves. A “true meritocracy” where half of the potential participants must disguise themselves in order to be able to play on a level field is not a meritocracy at all.

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Mentoring and diversity for Python

Posted Jun 27, 2018 10:34 UTC (Wed) by nilsmeyer (guest, #122604) [Link] (1 responses)

Having bad experiencres with other people is just a fact of life, whether it's at a conference or anywhere else. This isn't a problem unique to women.

Mentoring and diversity for Python

Posted Jun 27, 2018 12:43 UTC (Wed) by anselm (subscriber, #2796) [Link]

It is when people target a woman in a manner that they would not have, had she been a man – and that unfortunately happens all too often. Male software developers don't tend to get harrassed for being male software developers (see, e.g., Gamergate).

Also, if “that problem isn't unique to women” is a true statement it should, if anything, be interpreted as a call to action, to try to minimize bad experiences for everyone including women. Unfortunately it is, more often than not, interpreted as an excuse for doing nothing at all (“it's just a fact of life”) – in effect a form of whataboutism.