Towards A More Gender-Inclusive Open Source Community

"Creating an inclusive and enabling environment for gender diversity within open source¹ communities, particularly those working towards humanitarian and development outcomes, can contribute to two key outcomes."

This report is written to provide a framework for action to ensure gender diversity and gender equality in development of open source technologies (computer software in which the source code is freely available for the public to view, edit, and redistribute). Intending to contribute to Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 5, the research examines "experiences of women working in open source communities that create software for the humanitarian and international development sectors." Findings show an implicit gender bias in free and open source software (FLOSS) development, leading the Digital Impact Alliance (DIAL) to try to better understand why women are underrepresented and do not feel welcome in digital development communities. It concludes with "a set of reformist, conformist, and transformist recommendations on how different stakeholders – organizations supporting women in coding, open source communities, employers, conference organizers, governments and funders – can work together to build a more inclusive environment."

DIAL, whose goal is building an inclusive digital society, found in open source communities, "women are more likely than men to encounter language or content that makes them feel unwelcome." For example, programmers who add suggested improvements to project codes will more frequently add suggestions from women when their gender is unknown at the time of the decisionmaking. Questions that researchers set out to answer include: how women's and men's career paths differ across different sociocultural contexts; how women's contributions incorporated their voice and how that informed projects through a gender perspective; and what kinds of structures are needed to influence norms and behaviours to support meaningful participation of women.

Data were gathered from literature, online practitioner reflections and testimonies, and 44 semi-structured individual interviews from: 1) organisations seeking to promote women's engagement in open source, and 2) women from developing countries involved in open source development or use. "The Gates Foundation conceptual model of empowerment of women and girls, [used in the study].... adopted in this study, shows that to give women power, relations need to be transformed at the level of resources, institutions and agency. "

DIAL looked for:

• "Resources: what women need to participate equally in open source communities
• Institutional structures: the social arrangements and values that influence what women can achieve
• Agency: what women are able to do in terms of decision making, leadership and collective action"

Recommendations for action include:

• On the organisational level:
• "Build women’s agency by building structures of support, inspiration and encouragement such as mentoring, online forums, meet-ups, and vocational training....
• Work with schools, families and employers to change gendered expectations and prejudices about what constitutes women’s and men’s work.
• Secure and support internships and paid employment for women in open source projects and work with local media to raise the profile of women trailblazers." 

• In the open source communities:
• "Build online peer-support networks for women in open source and moderate online forums to raise awareness among men and women about the benefits of diversity and inclusion in software development.
• Organise proactive measures to attract diverse talent to the community and to make them feel welcome and supported.
• Carry out research to understand what aspects of your community might be alien and uncomfortable for women or people from other ethnic or linguistic groups.
• Secure buy-in among community members for a code of conduct for online speech and behaviour and activities to make new hires feel welcomed and appreciated.
• Agree on escalating sanctions for anyone who abuses another community member.
• End all abuse and gender-based discrimination in your community through GBV or anti-harassment training and awareness raising."

• Among open source employers:
• "Build welcoming workplaces in which women are effectively supported and rewarded with equal recognition, pay and seniority.
• Involve all staff in awareness-raising about the value of diversity in teams and how to build a safe and respectful workplace.
• Involve staff in identifying opportunities for achieving those goals and codify staff suggestions into a code of conduct with sanctions."