Women in free software: Recommendations from the Women’s Caucus

” Nearly a year ago the FSF held a mini-summit for women in free
software to investigate practical ways to increase the number of
women involved in the free software community.

“Those that attended the summit formed the Women’s Caucus, and
have been working to develop practical policy to recommend to the
FSF and the wider free software community. Today, we are publishing
the Caucus’s initial findings and recommendations.

“1. We identified a number of barriers to women’s participation
in free software and strategies for overcoming these obstacles.
What we found were some fairly simple short-term solutions and some
more complex long-term solutions that are already being used
successfully. Some successful strategies we encountered in multiple
projects include: encouraging non-coding contributors, emphasizing
cooperation rather than competition and (where appropriate)
implementing a mentoring program.

“2. Women who are not already involved in free software often
don’t feel invited to join free software groups or projects. We
have identified strategies for groups who are looking to grow and
diversify their membership. While not always intuitive, many of
these procedures are fairly easy to implement.”

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