Women-Only Spaces of Open Source

Abstract

In this workshop paper, we present the preliminary results of an investigation into women-only spaces in Open Source Software (OSS) communities. We examined 355 OSS project websites, out of which only sixteen had women-centered spaces. We further investigated these sixteen websites and analyzed the content for identity, focus, activities and longevity of the women-centered online spaces. The results indicate that less than five percent of the examined communities have women-only spaces. Most of these women-only spaces welcome other minorities, including trans and ethnic or racial minorities. These spaces exist to provide a common forum for discussion, support, empowerment and engagement of minorities in OSS. Women-only spaces have been around for two decades, but not all the spaces that are created remain active. The active spaces have thousands of members and provide a combination of online and offline activities for improving women’s engagement, mentoring and networking.