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Contributed by Stanislav Kelman
osOpinion.com
December 4, 2000

Two percent of osOpinion contributors are women. In This Story: Sliver of Opinion Mind the Gap Who's in Control?

As a regular contributor to osOpinion I get dozens of responses to my editorial pieces. But, as of late, I cannot help but notice that virtually all of them are coming from guys.

Although there are many women who work in computer-related fields, it seems that technical matters that are being actively discussed here are of little interest to them. I am sincerely puzzled as to why this is the case.

It's not like there is a sign anywhere on this site that states that this is a "Men Only" club. In fact, it is quite the opposite. While there are still some entry barriers for women elsewhere, I cannot think of anything that could possibly prevent anybody, regardless of gender, from becoming an active participant on osOpinion. What is commonly referred to as "the glass ceiling" is pretty much non-existent in virtual communities, such as this one.

Sliver of Opinion

I have asked Kelly McNeill, the site's managing editor, if any female enthusiasts have ever approached him with an editorial submission. His response was that only a tiny percentage, somewhere on the order of 2 percent of all the contributors, were indeed women.

What's more, even those that have contributed tended to deal primarily with emotional aspects of working in the computer industry, rather than with hard core technological issues per se.

Incidentally, the huge ratio of men to women is not unique to osOpinion. For example, a couple of years ago, I was personally conducting a survey of BeOS users and was surprised to discover that less than 1 percent of those who responded were female. Once again, I fail to see what could possibly discourage women from being interested in BeOS.

There are, obviously, exceptions to every rule, and it was indeed a female who recently won the top Guru Award as an Outstanding BeOS Community Member.

Mind the Gap

The situation is roughly the same with other alternative operating systems. For instance, this report from a Linux Install Fest at the French University mentions that only two women were participating. Yet, not everything is lost, and I personally know a girl who writes for Maximum Linux.

However, any way you look at it, there is an enormous discrepancy between the percentage of women in technical fields, which has been in double digits for many years, and their willingness to participate in technology-related discussions, which rarely goes beyond single percentage points.

While the ratio of men to women obtaining a bachelor's degree in computer and information sciences is less than 3:1, the ratio among those who are inclined to make themselves heard in public forums is more like 50:1. Any logical explanation for this phenomenon simply eludes me.

Who's in Control?

On the other hand, once we move away from the front lines of computing, it becomes a little easier to find women in cyberspace. But, even there the "Girl Power" is not absolute.

There is, for instance, a site called GirlGeeks.com which was, surprisingly, co-founded by a guy. Or take a women's portal, iVillage.com, where more than half of the management team is comprised of guys. Furthermore, it's hard to imagine what self-respecting man would work for Women.com, yet the company's board of directors is predominantly male.

So, is it a Man's World after all, or are women simply not interested in technology? I will leave this question open, and would like to hear your opinions on this matter. And, hopefully, it won't be just guys writing to me this time around…