<p dir="ltr">One minute we are all soldering surface mount. Next minute its hats and scarves everywhere. </p>
<p dir="ltr">It was only hostile when I didnt want to wear the hat</p>
<div class="gmail_quote">On Jan 16, 2013 7:39 PM, "Bilal Ghalib" <<a href="mailto:bg@bilalghalib.com">bg@bilalghalib.com</a>> wrote:<br type="attribution"><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">
<div>Charlie, that's awesome! Was it a slow creep or a hostile take over ;)</div>
<p style="color:#a0a0a8">On Wednesday, January 16, 2013 at 7:26 PM, charlie wallace wrote:</p>
<blockquote type="cite" style="border-left-style:solid;border-width:1px;margin-left:0px;padding-left:10px">
<span><div><div><p dir="ltr">If it helps any our hackerspace was primarily electronics and the knitters took over recently :)<br></p>
<p dir="ltr">On Jan 14, 2013 7:55 PM, "Lisha Sterling" <<a href="mailto:lishevita@gmail.com" target="_blank">lishevita@gmail.com</a>> wrote:<br>
><br>
><br>
> On Mon, Jan 14, 2013 at 9:27 PM, Nathaniel Bezanson <<a href="mailto:myself@telcodata.us" target="_blank">myself@telcodata.us</a>> wrote:<br>
>><br>
>> on paper our membership is about 80% male, but if you look at the people who actually show up and participate, it's a lot more even -- roughly 60/40 most of the time.<br>
><br>
><br>
> It sounds like you have a great space there!<br>
><br>
> Last year at SpaceCamp, an unconference for hacker and maker spaces run by School Factory, we had an informal poll of the founders and facilitators there to see what the gender makeup was. Despite the fact that there were about 30% women at the conference, it turned out that the membership of hackerspaces tended to run closer to 90/10 with a few notable exceptions. A couple of the women there spoke directly to the fact that they were made to feel unwelcome at some hackerspaces even as the hackerspace *said* that they were being gender-blind. <br>
><br>
> An example that I can think of off the top of my head is how at one mid-west hackerspace, a woman started a knitting group that brought in a lot of other women. Some of those women became involved in other areas of the hacker space, but not all of them did. However, *some* of the men in the hackerspace continually berated and badmouthed the knitting group, complaining that it was taking up space that should have been used for "real" hacking like woodwork, metalwork, programming and electronics. The knitting group wasn't forced to stop, but the discomfort from the way that they were treated meant that fewer women wanted to come, not only to the knitting group, but to other functions as well. The knitting group died, and the hackerspace was left with only a couple of female members (one of which went on to become a facilitator at another hackerspace).<br>
><br>
> I agree that the way to get future women into the hackerspaces is to get their parents in today. We all need role models. Are parents are our first role models. The other adults in the spaces we frequent as a child (school, scouts, daycare, hackerspace, etc) are very important as well.<br>
><br>
> There is another issue that needs to be addressed, and that is making sure that your hackerspace is an open and welcoming place to all: women, gays, transgendered people, people of different faiths, or colors, or shapes, or sizes... <br>
><br>
> There is a lot of work going on in this area at a lot of hackerspaces and that is really fantastic. Be aware, though, that you might not be aware of the issues facing any minority in your space. Sometimes you can find out by asking. Sometimes you can't. An of course, if you don't know that there is a problem, it's pretty much impossible to fix it. But when someone does speak up, hear them out and see what can be done.<br>
><br>
> As for women not wanting to talk to the press about being a woman in a hackerspace, there may be several reasons for that. 1) It's really awesome at your space and they don't see a point. In which case you should maybe encourage them to speak to the press and say exactly that, since it will help women who feel timid about joining *any* hackerspace more likely to show up. 2) They are sick of saying the same things over and over to the press, being misrepresented and painted as either a victim or a hero or some other archetype rather than as a person who hangs out at a hackerspace. 3) They really don't like anything that smacks of personal advertising. "Get my name in the paper? Ick! No thank you!!" 4-infinity) I can't possibly know all the other reasons...<br>
><br>
> - Lisha<br>
><br>
> -- <br>
> <a href="http://www.alwayssababa.com/" target="_blank">http://www.alwayssababa.com/</a><br>
><br>
><br>
> _______________________________________________<br>
> Discuss mailing list<br>
> <a href="mailto:Discuss@lists.hackerspaces.org" target="_blank">Discuss@lists.hackerspaces.org</a><br>
> <a href="http://lists.hackerspaces.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss" target="_blank">http://lists.hackerspaces.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss</a><br>
><br>
</p>
</div><div><div>_______________________________________________</div><div>Discuss mailing list</div><div><a href="mailto:Discuss@lists.hackerspaces.org" target="_blank">Discuss@lists.hackerspaces.org</a></div><div><a href="http://lists.hackerspaces.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss" target="_blank">http://lists.hackerspaces.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss</a></div>
</div></div></span>
</blockquote>
<div>
<br>
</div>
<br>_______________________________________________<br>
Discuss mailing list<br>
<a href="mailto:Discuss@lists.hackerspaces.org">Discuss@lists.hackerspaces.org</a><br>
<a href="http://lists.hackerspaces.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss" target="_blank">http://lists.hackerspaces.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss</a><br>
<br></blockquote></div>