Web 2.0 Expo Berlin: Gender Issues
Steph the tried to steer the discussion towards career aspects.
[Nancy](http://www.tigertwotiger.co.uk) raised the issue of women being unwilling to put themselves in the line of comment fire on blogs. Suw pointed to [the Kathy Sierra situation](http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Kathy_Sierra). “I can’t think of a single man who has been exposed to that sort of attention,” she said.
Lloyd, with some support from the audience, argued that men are worried about negative comments and hostility as well, but Steph pointed out that when women are attacked it is almost always of a sexual nature. And that’s a whole different complexion of attack.
Janet pointed to the [Tuttle Club in London](http://tuttleclub.wordpress.com/), which has much more of an even gender balance. Is this because it’s a new invention, as the web moves away from the harder-core techies?
Women are actively taking on community management roles – it’s different from blogging in that it’s a many-to-many relationship. Something that yu can do from home, fits into the family thing.
Is community management a motherly role? Yes, seemed to be the consensus.
Are women less prone to the confrontational part of the web? And do they need to have good connections with IT people to know their stuff? Or should they know it themselves.
Steph pointed out that it was annoying that people assumed she can’t install WordPress of hack php just because she’s a woman.
Perception of gender roles. Strong woman = bitch. Strong man = good leader.
[Alan](http://www.broadstuff.com): small companies are run in a more female way (research shows)
Upcoming event: [Finding Ada](http://findingada.com/) – a conference about bring women forward in technology
(Apologies to the contributors from the floor whose names I didn’t get)
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