[hackerspaces] How Do You Bring In Women?

[Matt Joyce]

The severe irony of this rant is that NYCResistor used to go to a nail
salon for cocktails all the damned time.  Male and female members
inclusive.

=/  Inadvertently worlds have collided.

On Fri, Jan 18, 2013 at 10:21 AM, Lokkju Brennr <lokkju at gmail.com> wrote:
> Now, listen to yourself:
>
> It seems like many day spas get men through the doors but scare them off.
> The SalonBar has a slightly different problem - men simply never show up in
> the first place!
>
> Of the 750+ people who have come through our doors, perhaps ten have been
> men. I'm wondering how to increase this.
>
> I can't figure out why - our marketing mix of Twitter, Meetup organic
> traffic, flyer campaigns, word-of-mouth, and presenting at relevant
> Meetups/collectives have worked wonders, but are only bringing in females.
> None of these are really female-oriented, which makes the results odd.
>
> We run two open houses a week, sell off-the-shelf and custom at home
> personal care kits, have two beginner/intermediate classes on hair, nail,
> skin, etc care per month, and have a social/games night every month. Our
> members do nails, hair, massage, makeup, skincare, etc. Interest and
> attendance have been at an all-time high, but again, all female.
>
> So, I'm wondering what the SalonBar needs to do to get a better balance. Are
> there events/classes that attract more men? What marketing works/turns off
> men? Might our location in a busy mall be scaring boys away? Is this even a
> problem?
>
> Men of the salon universe, how did you find out about your current space?
> What event brought you in?
>
> For what it's worth, our 'stickiness' with men may even be better than
> women. Of those ~10 men who've shown up, one is a member and two are diehard
> class and open-house addicts who come back very often. Almost all of our
> members are married or in committed relationships; either way, we're a
> pretty classy and non-creeper bunch that I can't see scaring anyone away.
>
> It must be awkward being the only man at a salon, and I'd like to get a
> critical mass to make anyone, no matter what demographic, more comfortable.
>
>
>
> On Fri, Jan 18, 2013 at 1:00 PM, Zack Freedman <magikazoc at gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>> It seems like many hackerspaces get women through the doors but scare them
>> off. The MakerBar has a slightly different problem - women simply never show
>> up in the first place!
>>
>> Of the 750+ people who have come through our doors, perhaps ten have been
>> women. I'm wondering how to increase this.
>>
>> I can't figure out why - our marketing mix of Twitter, Meetup organic
>> traffic, flyer campaigns, word-of-mouth, and presenting at relevant
>> Meetups/collectives have worked wonders, but are only bringing in dudes.
>> None of these are really male-oriented, which makes the results odd.
>>
>> We run two open houses a week, sell off-the-shelf and custom soldering
>> kits, have two beginner/intermediate classes on Arduino, RasPi, etc per
>> month, and have a social/games night every month. Our members do
>> programming, woodworking, electronics, soft circuits, circuit bending, etc.
>> Interest and attendance have been at an all-time high, but again, all male.
>>
>> So, I'm wondering what the MakerBar needs to do to get a better balance.
>> Are there events/classes that attract more women? What marketing works/turns
>> off women? Might our location in a converted warehouse be scaring girls
>> away? Is this even a problem?
>>
>> Women of the hackerspace universe, how did you find out about your current
>> space? What event brought you in?
>>
>> For what it's worth, our 'stickiness' with women may even be better than
>> men. Of those ~10 women who've shown up, one is a member and two are diehard
>> class and open-house addicts who come back very often. Almost all of our
>> members are married or in committed relationships; either way, we're a
>> pretty classy and non-creeper bunch that I can't see scaring anyone away.
>>
>> It must be awkward being the only girl at a space, and I'd like to get a
>> critical mass to make anyone, no matter what demographic, more comfortable.
>> --
>> Zack Freedman // MakerBar // Hardware Hacker from the Near Future
>>
>>
>> _______________________________________________
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>>
>
>
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