Can Free, “Open-Source” Software Bridge the Gender Gap in Technology?

“If girls are taught computer skills in school from an early
age, then there will be just as many female computer programmers as
male ones … at least, in theory. But when computer classes
involve being taught to use products from Apple, Adobe and
Microsoft — and include activities like field trips to the Apple
Store — who’s benefiting from them? The girls, or the corporations
that sponsor their classes?

“That was the reasoning behind Máirín Duffy’s
“Free software course in digital media,” which she taught to
14-year-old Girl Scouts in October. The open-source software she
taught them to use included free alternatives to Microsoft and
Adobe’s wares, like the Inkscape vector graphics program and the
GIMP image editor. And while Máirín’s employer, Red
Hat, pays people like her to create such open-source software, the
results are shared freely for everyone to use — programming
“source” code and all. This allows people to create their own
versions of them, like the Seashore image editor for Mac, and to
always have the creative tools that they need available for
free.”

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