Ramblings on Women, Computers and the PHP world 
Was reading the blogs and came across this which in turn lead me to this. After reading both, I have to say, I agree with both.
Yes - there should be more diversity in the speakers at the various conferences, but I also understand that most people who submit packages for talks are white males (note I said submit packages - not qualified to give). I also feel the quality of speakers should not be reduced to increase diversity. How do we solve this? There is, of course, no easy answer. Best I can think of is for conference organizers to personally contact known influential members who are a minority and ask them to submit a proposal. Then pick the talks for the conference purely on the content of the submitted proposals.
Now on to the bigger topic of the minority of women in the computer world. Is there a minority of women in computing - sure. According to US Census data in 2004 women were 50.8% of the population, yet just entire any IRC channel and if you see 2 - 5 women out of 100 people that is a lot. Why? According to this - part of the problem is at the University level. Women aren’t choosing computers as a major due in part to cultural problems (general population and computing) and “discrimination” (though I’m not sure if I agree with that one).
As a woman who was a tomboy as a child and has only worked in male dominated fields (was a machinist before getting into computers) I may not see the “discriminations”. I admit to also being “forceful” in personality and more then willing to speak up when asked a question or presented with something that is uncomfortable for me (unlike some women). I have no problems letting people know what I think.
I also have dealt with the ‘exclusivity’ of the computer culture though I don’t think it is targeted toward women. I have experienced it used rather ruthlessly actually. I had one class in college where the professor truly felt that if you couldn’t pass his class you shouldn’t be in the computer major - out of a class of 35, only 8 passed. I was the only woman left. And yet - I have also seen the guys on IRC stop everything to help a woman solve a problem with a lot more patience then they would show toward a man.
And finally - the PHP world. All I want to say is that I have always found the PHP World to be an incredably welcoming one whether you are male or female. In it I have found friends, mentors, confidants and more importantly - those who push me to improve myself personally and professionally to be the best I can be simply because they are so much better then I am.
October 5th, 2006 at 1:56 pm
Regarding your words about the PHP community: Amen, sister
On the main topic, I don’t see lack of diversity in terms of “not enough minorities” as a problem. The low percentage of female speakers at conferences reflects the overall lower percentage of females in the industry, and that’s really all there is to it, IMHO. And regarding male white guys, I’m sure if you visited a conference in Asia or Africa you’d see an apparent lack of those in comparison to the numbers of local boys.
Don’t get me wrong, diversity is a good thing - but on professional conferences the emphasis should be more on the quality of the talks, not on who the speaker is. And who’s a minority and who’s not really is a question of perspective
CU
Markus
October 5th, 2006 at 3:21 pm
I have to say that during the Google Summer of Code, I was surprised to see how much the PHP community was welcoming.
A lot of people brought time to help me and everybody is very nice.
Even if guess that this good spirit is typical in any open source organization, people need to know that so they don’t hesitate to get involved in a such community.
October 5th, 2006 at 3:50 pm
I generally think conference organizers go by mostly the same bunch often giving the same talks over and over. I have been guitly of riding this fact myself. And I understand their reasoning. Every new person has the potential for risk in that they may not be reliable or simply not a good speaker. Since every conf only has a few regulars its often enough to rehash slightly updated established talks. However, this means its kinda hard for new people to get in, regardless of their sex, ethnicity or background.
As for women in IT. There was a day when women ruled IT. That was back when keyboards were considered to be modern day typewriters and therefore it was a women thing. Then men started to move into the field and one by one pushed women out (or women ran screaming from the men that were attracted by keyboards). Anyways I do not think that quotas is a good thing. I took particular note of your example of how men help women on IRC. I think that is part of the problem. Women in IT either get overlooked or people help them every step of the way (if you ever really need help, try joining a channel with a female nick and make sure to make it clear you are a women). Solving problems by having people point you in the general direction instead of handing things to you is one of the key ways to learn and to gain selfesteem. So I see this helping women with a huge grain of sailt. Actually I think its all wrong.
Women need to be treated equal. Same for any of the varitions of non white men. However, they need to be treated truely equal. The rest will come, or it will not. But thats upto all the non white men at that point.
October 5th, 2006 at 7:19 pm
You’re forgetting one important thing: Short bathroom lines.
In all seriousness, I do tend to scan through the lineups for conferences I’ll be attending because I do tend to be either the only female, or one of two (three tops).
But why rely on anecdotal evidence…
Let’s start with ZendCon06 ( http://zendcon06.kbconferences.com/speakers_list.php ) coming up next month…. If I’m right and Nandika is a woman (It’s hard enough guessing with some english names…), then that makes a grand total of two of us that’ll be on stage. And my only session is directly opposite so I won’t even be able to pop in!
Then there’s the Internation PHP Conference in Frankfurt ( http://entwickler.com/konferenzen/planer/ipc06_sessionplaner.html )… hrmmm Me… Steph (who I’m dying to meet finally), and….. Yep, two once again.
Or how about next door in France that same week ( http://www.afup.org/pages/forumphp2006/sessions.php )…. Bzzzt…. Y chromosomes, the lot of ‘em.
Looking back: The php|works schedule is still up ( http://hades.phparch.com/ceres/public/page/index.php/works::schedule ) and that was a goose-egg for the fairer sex. ((I was originally slated to show, but had passport issues))
Looking further back at php|tek ( http://www.phparch.com/tek/tek_schedule.php ) there were two of us there, though I never did make it to Caroline’s presentation… I just can’t get excited about SDO….
So yeah, my experience says that the observations made in these articles are absolutely true. The vast majority of speakers are male and the majority of them are white. But I really, honestly don’t think that’s a problem. Women aren’t being excluded from these events, we’re just not bothering to show up. In a few cases I’ve seen the proposal stacks that come to conference organizers and the fact is, a consistent proportion show a masculine name along the top.
It’s not just conferences either, I worked in HR for six years and saw more than a couple resume stacks (during some periods, these stacks were hundreds of applicants high). I’ve also seen and compiled affirmative action statistics on job applications and both of these sources have told me the same thing:
IT jobs attract male applicants (I’ll let you recover from the shock before I continue).
If change is important, it needs to start in the schools. Math should not be a bad word in a young girl’s vocabulary. Science diciplines should include more than just biology. (In my senior year, my Calculous class had 20+ guys, and 4 girls. My Physicals class was 20+ to 3). ((Yes I know those are rediculously small class sizes for a public school and that’s the other problem…. underacheivement is way too cool to be good)).
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