(Written by Claire Corgnou, translation Delphine Lebédel)
In case you still haven’t noticed, today is Women’s Day. And most important of all, it’s the 100th edition of International Women’s Day.
So on this special day – necessary in order to remind everyone of the existence of persecuted women around the world – I would first like to have a thought for all the oppressed, beaten and stoned to death women, who are considered as inferior, who have few or no rights. All these women who suffer, still too numerous, but who stand tall. Those of them who dare to rebel, who fight for their dignity. We must not forget them. Today even more, we must remember them.
In this day, I feel even more lucky than ever to be where I am, in this community. The Mozilla community has welcomed me, let me express my ideas (amongst which, my feminist ideas), encouraged me to get involved with WoMoz (see my last post)… I am a happy woman.
A happy geek's girlfriend: the proof with this picture!
A happy woman, but who will not be caught off-guard. Today, this Women’s Day is also special because of its theme: “Equal access to education, training, science and technology: towards decent work conditions for women”. And this is exactly what WoMoz is fighting for! We try to end existing prejudices. Why would a woman not be capable enough to work in computing and to have technical skills?! The problem today is that women – even before knowing if they’d like to integrate this world – are oriented towards different fields, considered as more “feminine”. They don’t truly have a choice. From the outside, it may seem that they have the choice, but in reality it’s a whole other story. In my case, I don’t work in Open Source (I’m a journalist) and I don’t regret having chosen this job. However, I have never been taught computing during my scholarship, nor do I remember anyone talking to me about FLOSS. Computer science and new technologies seem reserved for boys.
And it’s still the case! When you are a woman, you really need to have a lot of guts to enter these kinds of fields. Of course, this assessment concerns also other domains… Women are frequently the victims of prejudice, and still too often other people decide for them… But WoMoz wants to be there to support them, to accompany them in their choices. And WoMoz is not only composed of women: there are also open-minded men in the group.
This post is certainly full of indignation, but also full of hope: because the WoMoz project exists (amongst others of course), and because I know that women are courageous. They are courageous and will continue to fight for their rights, 100 years after the first International Women’s Day.
Based in Germany (as indicates her charming traditional costume, that suits her perfectly!) in Berlin, we sometimes have the pleasure of welcoming Barbara during her visits at the Paris office.