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[GNU/FSF Press] Free Software Foundation to host a mini-summit on Women


From: Peter Brown
Subject: [GNU/FSF Press] Free Software Foundation to host a mini-summit on Women in Free Software
Date: Mon, 24 Aug 2009 11:52:15 -0400
User-agent: Thunderbird 2.0.0.22 (X11/20090608)

# 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.

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


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."

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


### 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
<address@hidden>








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