Re: Perl's Glory Days Are Behind It, But It Isn't Going Anywhere

On Feb 6, 2013, at 7:54 PM, Jacinta Richardson =
<[email protected]> wrote:
>=20
> I don't think that Perl's decline in popularity is all that related to =
why Perl has too few women in its communities.  Over time, my training =
classes have probably averaged 25-30% women (which is on-par with =
women's representation in IT in business).  Skud's survey (years ago) =
suggested 6% women (which is 3 times higher than women's representation =
in open source for pleasure, although the survey may have been answered =
by people who only worked in open source for work).  I think Perl has =
too few women in its communities for almost all the same reasons that =
too few women are involved in open source for pleasure, and they're well =
documented elsewhere. That is, this isn't a Perl problem, but a wider =
problem.  All we can do is promote (haha) the strengths of our community =
and treat our newcomers well.

I knew that anecdote would take this in the wrong direction, but I =
couldn't resist as it was a truly amusing moment and, at the same time, =
a revelation of human nature. You're right, it's not just a Perl =
problem, but we wouldn't be here 10+ years later talking about the same =
problems with the same people if the issue was solely a technical one.=20=


I think numbers, percentages, or the generally nice boys in the close =
community that we are familiar with (I did marry one...) may be =
misleading not only because there's plenty of words spent on the =
subject, probably more from men than women, but if we are leaving our =
own wishful thinking behind, a world where sexism is no longer an issue, =
a company like GoDaddy would be out of business overnight (for those =
outside of the US, see YouTube for GoDaddy commercials...QED). Words and =
documented lists of reasons why don't appear to be very effective. It's =
an issue, but that it's still an issue that gets the soft bokeh of a =
lovely leica 50mm lens in low light means there's a lot of other things =
that don't see the crisp light of midday. I spent a year in Switzerland =
which was like stepping into a German version of "Mad Men" set in the =
modern world without mid-century modern hipness, but with all the sexism =
still intact and overtly enforced. It was an interesting experience in =
how everything can look so similar as long as you don't challenge the =
status quo...and don't flush your toilet after 10pm or before 6am. :)

So, to bring it back to what I was originally getting at...questions and =
words are only useful if the answers are more than just the lies we tell =
ourselves and others because it's what we and others want to hear. In =
the words of Dr. House, "Everybody lies."=20

e.=