The dark side of open source conferences

“In the past two decades, the open source community has evolved
from an obscure grass-roots movement of wild-eyed crusaders,
indigent grad students, and spare-time hobbyists to an
unprecedented worldwide collaboration of full-time professionals
and extraordinarily committed volunteers. We pride ourselves on our
openness to new contributors, from any country or social
background, and most often describe the power structure of open
source projects as a meritocracy. Many of us believe that open
source is inherently progressive – a way to level the playing field
that operates across all social categories and class
boundaries.

“And yet, here it is, the year 2010, and my female friends and I
are still being insulted, harassed, and groped at at open source
conferences. Some people argue that if women really want to be
involved in open source (or computing, or corporate management,
etc.), they will put up with being stalked, leered at, and
physically assaulted at conferences. But many of us argue instead
that putting up extra barriers to the participation of women will
only harm the open source community. We want more people in open
source, not fewer.

“In this article, we will first explore the current state of
harassment in open source through interviews with ten women
(including myself) about their experiences at open source
conferences. Then we will describe some concrete, simple actions
anyone can take to help reduce harassment for everyone”

Complete
Story