[BangPypers] Why PyLadies

[Mandar Vaze / मंदार वझे]

Jonathan,

Thanks for the answer. The points you raised make sense for a "support
group" (IMO) but not for a technical community (especially mailing list
where even your geographical location is immaterial.)

*I *couldn't find answer to this question (easily) on
http://www.pyladies.com/ either.

On a completely unrelated note , here is a (completely imaginary) story for
you to ponder ..
All the incidents/characters/alphabets in the story are fictitious, any
resemblance to real incidents/people is a coincidence

   - P *asked a question* (albeit in less than politically correct manner)
   - S and A were offended - they beat up on P till P apologized, twice
   (first one "conditional" second "unconditional") Several people supported
   both P and S&A
   - C sent a private email to S with some (unsolicited, but well meaning)
   advice *and* asked the *same question again*
   - S beats up on C publicly about sending private email, but forgot to
   (chose not to ?) answer the question
   - J answered the question
   - S and A (probably) want a good publicity for their cause, yet ..
   - Neither S and A have *yet *answered the question.


-Mandar




On Tue, Sep 10, 2013 at 11:03 AM, Jonathan Toomim <jtoomim at jtoomim.org>wrote:

> I can give a few answers for you:
>
> 1. The desires of minorities tend to be poorly served in rule-by-majority
> groups like democracies and anarchic mobs.
>
> 2. Being a minority (e.g. woman; expatriate) can be an unpleasant and
> alienating experience. Humans are social mammals who seek out the company
> of similar individuals. We have developed the ability to compartmentalize
> those needs to some extent, and can get by some of the time by associating
> with people we are compatible on one or two specific or important traits,
> like occupation/hobby, gender, religion, native language, etc., but this is
> never as fulfilling as associating with people with whom we are compatible
> on multiple traits. A guy joining (e.g.) BangPypers gets to hang out with
> other guys like him; a gal joining BangPypers gets to hang out with guys
> that might be like her if she weren't a she.
>
> 3(a). Guys sometimes make sexual or romantic advances towards women around
> them. When the gender ratio is heavily unbalanced, this can be a huge
> problem. If each guy spends 5% of his time talking to and trying to flirt
> with the girls around him, and there are 20 guys for each girl in a group,
> then each girl will spend an average of 100% of her time dealing with guys
> trying to flirt with her (if you interpret multitasking as double-timing,
> at least). Perhaps you can see how this might be a problem in some
> circumstances.
>
> 3(b). In groups with highly unbalanced gender ratios, the majority gender
> tends to not get much practice and tends to be pretty awkward in how they
> make or take the advances. As a female Physics major friend of mine used to
> say about romantic prospects with her predominantly male classmates, "The
> odds are good, but the goods are odd."
>
> 4. If you want to rectify the gender ratio imbalance, creating an
> atmosphere that is extra-friendly towards women can be desirable, since it
> would help counter any cultural prejudices against women entering science
> or technology fields, and would also help to counter some of the effects
> described in 1-3. It wouldn't fully counter either of those effects, but
> it's a start.
>
>
> On 9/8/2013 10:58 AM, Mandar Vaze / मंदार वझे wrote:
>
>> before, and I would be interested in your response:
>>>     "What purpose is served by creating a women's group, instead of
>>> joining the existing group thus making it more diverse?"
>>>      In other words, what purpose is served by intentional segregation?
>>>
>>>  Was this ever answered ?
>>
>> -Mandar
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>>
>>
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