There is a great potential for change. I think the gropers and insulters are the exception and not the rule. Unless 30 obnoxious men are changing their appearance and flying all over the globe to be “that guy” at dozens of linuxfests and free software gatherings every year, their numbers are still significant. If you believe my conspiracy scenario, then you may as well go all the way and imagine them to be trained and funded by Microsoft on a secret island in the remote Pacific. (Also, I have a work-at-home situation that starts with you mailing me a large check that I’d love to discuss with you.) But seriously, the dearth of opposing voices is what allows this small group to disproportionately set the tone at free software events. The bad actors are not the majority. Silence on this issue serves the status quo.

When thinking about change, I’ve always found Ursula LeGuin’s story, “The Ones who Walked Away from Omelas” inspiring. This example is from fiction and so naturally the choice to pipe down or walk away from a society that oppresses even one of its members is drawn in very broad strokes. LeGuin has essentially written a parable. If you as a conference goer find out that an event’s success rests upon the tears and ostracization of a small number of people, then walk away. Don’t attend that event again. Let me be a little more explicit. Say the keynote speaker is disrespectful to women and sets an inappropriate sexual tone for the conference. The conference organizers don’t feel that they can tell someone famous and important to either stay professional and respect all attendees or stop speaking without damaging the status of their event. The women at this conference no longer feel welcome. If you think those are the wrong priorities then you have two options, speak up or walk away.

Find yourself another event or project that values the inclusion of all its members over the egos of a few bad actors. Get involved where they’re doing it right! Or say something when your “mostly OK” community missteps. A simple, “Hey, that’s out of line” or “We really don’t need to use that kind of example” can go a long way. Sometimes you may find yourself in a smaller group and a quick, “That was really inappropriate” may be in order. What if you aren’t quick in the moment? After someone’s been offensive you might say to the offended party, “I’m sorry that guy was a jerk to you. If you want to report him, I’m happy to go with you to find a staff person.” Of course, this last example is going to be the most effective at an event that already has an anti-harassment policy in place.

Allies are extremely important. There aren’t that many women here yet. So, in order to be successful at changing the tone in the free software community, we need your help. The thing you can do today is to write to a conference you’re thinking about attending in the next year and politely ask if they would adopt an anti-harassment policy like this one. A policy may seem like a small step, but its adoption empowers the organizers to stop offensive behavior and to kick out repeat offenders. It also goes a long way towards broadcasting to potential attendees what sort of treatment they can expect and what won’t be tolerated. I hope that you’ll choose to speak up when you feel you can affect behavior and walk away when you feel the situation is irredeemable. Thanks to all of you who already do!

In the Women’s Caucus, we’ve been focusing on getting women in the door and then keeping them from leaving. Of course, we’ve also devoted time to recognizing the women who are already here, and generally raising the profile of women in free software. I think we need to take that to another level and firmly add “advancement” to our goals. I’m aware that this may sound like a lot to take on when our numbers are already so small, but I think that women in leadership positions is precisely what will bring more women to free software.

All of us have certainly been told that one of the best questions you can ask in an interview for a new job is some variation on, “Are there opportunities for advancement here?” The reason that is a great question isn’t because it shows the interviewer that you are ambitious, (although that doesn’t hurt.) It’s because you probably don’t want to work somewhere where you won’t learn new things, be given more responsibility over time, and be invested in as a contributor. Many organizations have pondered how to recruit a more diverse staff and there are some common pitfalls that can be avoided in how to make your plans and how to follow through. It turns out that women and minorities (much like men) need to have support of their managers, to be on a track to grow and learn professionally and to have their skills matched to their tasks.

I believe that helping more women reach positions of power will help not only those individuals personally and their projects generally to recruit more women, but it will help the free software movement overall. We’ll be able to point to accomplished women in free software and say, “Yes! There are opportunities for advancement here!” I have a few ideas about how we might best localize diverse advancement strategies for the free software movement, but I certainly don’t have all the answers. Comment here, email me or blog on this topic and then link back!

And now for the envy. I’m sitting here (slightly) procrastinating doing my homework because I know it will be hard. It won’t be boring — although I’m not too bad at procrastinating boring things — it will be challenging. At the end, I’ll feel pretty excellent about having successfully written a few Java programs, but the hours between now and then seem daunting. Maybe I could use a montage? A few shots of me with a pencil in hand, one of me asleep on my $108 (seriously) text book and another of me tossing a few crumpled pieces of paper into the trash, then a bit of typing — and Ta-Dahh!! I emerge an accomplished Java Programmer.

Hillary Clinton’s video “Tomorrow Will be Better” reminded me of another place we could use a montage. Aside from offering a friendly and positive message to GLBT youth she takes time to note how far “we women” have come just in her lifetime. When I think of where “we women” are in terms of the sciences and in particular computer science, I think we could stand to have come a much, much longer way. Baby.

Fade to one of those pictures of women using some of the earliest computers (there are a bunch here) and then picture one of them getting up and walking into the lab and pointing at the tiny screen with a mechanical pencil and shaking her head because the prototype doesn’t meet her specifications, next she’s soldering, maybe there are a few paper balls being tossed into the can in this montage too and then finally she’s in front of a chalkboard explaining a very dense looking algorithm to a room full of young women. Now cut to our new and improved present day where the percentage of women in technology isn’t embarrassingly low and we can find time in our public discourse to talk about a female politician’s policies and not just her femininity.

In John Scalzi’s “Things I Don’t Have to Think About Today” post, he nails the problem. Privilege means not having to think about others and the “not thinking” on the part of Haves is why things don’t get better for Have-nots. Racism, ableism, classism, persecution based on where you come from, how you worship and who you love are all still with us. Although I’m a little intimidated of how we might even design a montage to fix all the important issues he’s raised, I’d certainly love to see one.

Perhaps we’d start by fixing our public schools and making them over into a Pala-esque (from Aldous Huxley’s novel Island) wonderland where learning and cooperation are prized, every single person learns to work with their hands and with their minds, power is shared by lottery and no one is ever allowed to dwell on past hurts. I guess for this montage to work we’d all wake up on the Island, learn to be nice people who grow up honoring and respecting each other, sharing work and responsibility equally and then we never leave.

Sadly, that montage is just as unlikely to happen as the other two. So, we’re back to the real world where there is plenty of work to do to make things happen the slow way. I’m starting with my homework, but if I come up with any shortcuts on making the world a better place I’ll let you know.

It’s now four years later and tomorrow will be my last day working for the Foundation. I want to take a moment to thank all of the extremely dedicated and inspiring people I’ve met through my work at the FSF. It’s been an honor to work with you, swap stories about our projects and in many cases, become your friend. This is by no means a goodbye, though. You’ll still see me at events, on IRC and on mailing lists. May our paths cross again!

I’m attending Grace Hopper at the end of this month. I’m very much looking forward to participating in a panel on Getting Started in Free and Open Source Software. I’m honored to be co-panelling with Selena and Leslie who I already know, and Terri whose work I have seen and heard great things about. I’ll also be meeting two new people who are passionate about getting more women involved in free software. If transcripts are made available, I’ll be sure to post the link here.

In case you didn’t know, the Grace Hopper Conference is just for women. It’s named for Grace Hopper who was an early leader in computing. She worked on the giant Harvard Mark machine, a piece of which is still on display in the Harvard Science Center. I actually pass it on my way to study group for my Intro to Computer Science class this semester. Maybe I should pour a little machine oil on the floor in Grace’s honor? (Or for luck with my midterm…)

This is also a belated shout-out to all the fine folks I met at HOPE this summer. HOPE was full of smart and funny people who like to take stuff apart and (sometimes) put it back together again. Highlights included Gweeds’ talk on Hacking the Food Genome and James Vasile’s demonstration of the Book Liberator, a device that anyone can build and then start digitizing books. Thanks also to Maco who set up an impromptu lunch for the ladies, it was great to meet other geeky women.

And lastly, I gave a talk on Free Software: Why We Need Big Tent, which was a sort of intro to community organizing for free software activists with a special emphasis on building your group while also being mindful of diversity. That talk is available in 16kbps and also 64kbps. Thanks to everyone who had thoughtful feedback for me!