Saskatoon TechWorks Forum

FingerTech wrote:Awesome! Now you realize we will need a TechWorks cake for the grand opening...

Rogueclown: Hackerspaces should make it clear that they are a place for people to do creative things with any technological or artistic framework — not just stereotypically male fields like computers or electronics. Such fields may appeal to a few women, like me, but I’m pragmatic…they’re still majority male fields, and won’t succeed in getting a large amount of women into spaces. Get current members who are entrenched in communities with large amounts of women to talk about the hackerspace, and talk about what they have to offer. Talk about the potential of exchanging knowledge, and about how much cooler everyone’s projects will be if there’s cross-disciplinary knowledge sharing.

Also, make sure that the hackerspace is a comfortable place to go, regardless of gender. Focus on the knowledge everyone brings, and the knowledge people want to gain. Don’t assume women are coming in to snag a geeky guy. Don’t assume that women have virgin ears that require you to turn off your joking around at the space. Assume that people of any gender are coming in for the same reason: to meet interesting and intelligent people, to share knowledge, and to make awesome projects.

JB: What can hackerspaces do to get more women to participate?

Astera: ...what’s the point in changing a concept that totally works for those interested in the material to something more broad, when the only goal you want to follow is to make it more politically correct? Honestly, I wouldn’t want to see the idea of a hackerspace change just in order to equal out gender numbers.