- Dr. Susan Niebur has kindly posted a preprint of her published article on the underrepresentation of female planetary scientists in NASA mission teams (which a commenter submitted as a linkspam candidate earlier).
- Deborah discusses models of developing for accessibility that don’t work well because they exclude those who use accessibility features from the discussion.
- Sarah Stokely wonders if we really want to know what’s keeping women out of tech.
- Is the Nude London Tech Calendar a good idea? If you have to ask…
- Tech isn’t the only industry that snubs women when it’s awards time. So does publishing.
- A profile of Google’s Marissa Mayer in Glamour. Those allergic to highly-posed and-Photoshopped photography might not want to click.
- Why should you attend Girls in Tech’s Catalyst Conference?
- Because it sometimes needs repeating: a guide for the awkward ones.
- Women in Victoria, Australia, might be interested in the Women’s Leadership Grants, providing funding for “projects and activities that develop capacity and increase opportunities for women to participate in leadership roles.” Applications close at the end of November.
If you have links of interest, please share them in comments here, or if you’re a delicious user, tag them “geekfeminism†to bring them to our attention. Thanks to everyone who suggested links in comments and on delicious.
So very much on the literary one.
I gave a talk in August about publishing your own RPG, which I was more than surprised had a large number of people there who were of course mostly male.
At one point in time I made reference to the fact that one of the most important things they could actually do to help themselves it try to be conscious of sexism and racism in what they do. I got a lot of blank stares from the audience as if I had grown another head, except from the two women in the audience who were nodding along with me.
Game awards are also usually won by men too, probably because all the awards require self nominations. I know that’s why I don’t do them, even though I should.
Thanks for your interest in the NASA mission demographics … I wrote the paper because I was tired of the discussion happening without any facts. So, now we have the facts.
re: People with disabilities…this is such an uphill battle. The Americans with Disabilities Act was originally passed in the 1970s, and while there has been some progress it surely demonstrates the amazing resilience of human stubbornness.
Accessibility for physically disabled people benefits everyone, sensible design like wide-enough doorways and doors that don’t require King Kong strength to open them; curb cuts instead of stepping off cliffs; wide, well-lit entries and hallways; nice ramps instead of stairs; things in reach rather than placed for the convenience of the mythical 6-foot 160-lb man that most designers seem to target. Shall I rant about tiny, poorly-lit restroom stalls where you have to stand on the toilet just to close the door? Maybe if we forced designers and builders to use their own creations they would improve.
So the resistant mentality is everywhere, it’s not just in tech and FOSS. It would be very cool to see FOSS take the lead in making computers and tech more accessible. It’s on my wish list for when I become an ace coder.