The Free Software Foundation will host a mini-summit on Women in Free Software (with GNOME Foundation support)

[Stormy Peters <stormy gnome org>]

http://www.fsf.org/news/summit-on-women-in-free-software

The Free Software Foundation will host a mini-summit on Women in Free
Software to discuss how the free software community can cultivate and
increase participation by women in free software's development and
activism communities.

BOSTON, Massachusetts, USA -- Monday, August 24th, 2009 -- On
September 19, 2009, Deborah Nicholson of the Free Software Foundation
(FSF), Stormy Peters of the GNOME Foundation and Hillary Rettig, free
software activist and author of The Lifelong Activist, will gather a
small group of women activists, thinkers, and scholars to identify
strategies and initiatives that will foster sustained participation by
women in the movement.

As organizations representing an international movement to bring free
software and freedom to everyone, the FSF and GNOME Foundation are
seeking practical initiatives to increase the participation of women
in the movement. Historically, women have been underrepresented in the
technology and free software communities, and despite recent increases
in the adoption of free software, the situation has not significantly
improved. Deborah Nicholson said, "At the summit, we will discuss
existing entry points, why women don't always feel invited, and when
they do, why they don't always stay. Individual projects have found
ways to make women welcome and we will look at some of these examples
and discuss how to build on those successes. We will also identify new
strategies and tactics to help create a balanced community."

Stormy Peters said, "The Women in Free Software mini-summit will be an
opportunity to discuss how the FSF and the GNOME Foundation can work
with the free software community to more effectively encourage women
to participate, and to make policy and program recommendations to the
FSF and the wider community to further this goal."
About the Free Software Foundation

The Free Software Foundation, founded in 1985, is dedicated to
promoting computer users' right to use, study, copy, modify, and
redistribute computer programs. The FSF promotes the development and
use of free (as in freedom) software -- particularly the GNU operating
system and its GNU/Linux variants -- and free documentation for free
software. The FSF also helps to spread awareness of the ethical and
political issues of freedom in the use of software, and its Web sites,
located at fsf.org and gnu.org, are an important source of information
about GNU/Linux. Donations to support the FSF's work can be made at
http://donate.fsf.org. Its headquarters are in Boston, MA, USA.
Media Contacts

Peter T. Brown
Executive Director
Free Software Foundation
+1 (617) 542 5942
campaigns fsf org