121 lines
6.0 KiB
HTML
121 lines
6.0 KiB
HTML
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
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<html newsdate="2019-03-08">
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<head>
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<title>International Women's Day: No freedom without diversity and gender equality</title>
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<meta name="image" content="https://fsfe.org/picturebase/miscellaneous/tux-diversity.jpg"/>
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</head>
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<body>
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<h1>International Women's Day: No freedom without diversity and gender equality</h1>
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<p newsteaser="yes">
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Today, the FSFE celebrates International Women's Day, a global day
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calling for women's rights and gender parity. As in many other
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communities, women in Free Software communities face gender
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discrimination on a daily basis. To help improve their environment and
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raise awareness, the FSFE wants to use today's occasion to share our
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ongoing efforts to improve gender balance and ensure gender equality.
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</p>
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<p>
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Gender discrimination is a massive problem throughout history. But it was
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only in the beginning of the 20th century when first countries started to
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introduce an International Woman's Day which was adopted by the United
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Nations in 1975 as a global day of celebration and a focal point in the
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movement for women's rights. The UN theme for
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<a href="http://www.unwomen.org/en/news/in-focus/international-womens-day">International Women's Day in 2019</a>
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is “Think Equal, Build Smart, Innovate for Change” to help put a focus on
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the role that technological innovation by and for women and girls plays
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in efforts to achieve gender equality. This theme reminds us of the role
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of Free Software in achieving self-emancipation and gender equality.
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</p>
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<figure>
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<img
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src="/picturebase/miscellaneous/tux-diversity-800px.jpg"
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alt="a picture showing diverse tux"/>
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<figcaption>
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Freedom is all about diversity.
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</figcaption>
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</figure>
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<p>
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Ever more, technology controls every single aspect of our lives. But
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women have traditionally been and still are underrepresented in the
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bodies shaping those technologies that change our society. Core reasons
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are traditional and exclusive male-driven organisation cultures and the
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creation of artificial barriers to prevent women's influence on shaping
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technology the way they see fit. To empower women and achieve true gender
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equality in our society, it is inevitable to offer women the same access
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to tinker with technology as man have.
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</p>
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<p>
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Free Software is technology that respects and empowers any user equally
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and puts everyone of us in control of technology. This way, the four
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universal freedoms of Free Software offer fertile soil for emancipating
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technologies without restrictions towards gender or any other
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backgrounds. At the Free Software Foundation Europe we are working
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towards ensuring that women are equally empowered to shape technology,
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and thereby change society for the better. Some actions that we have
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taken to achieve this include helping to establish female role models in
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technology by encouraging female speakers at our events, by balancing
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gender contributions in our public pictures and statements, and for job
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applications we give preference to applicants who identify as part of a
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traditionally marginalised demographic in technology for applications of
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equal strength.
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</p>
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<p>
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But problems already arise on a much lower level and unfortunately,
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taking part in discussions is not always equal for everyone. We can see
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gender discrimination in nearly all communities, most prominently by
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people using their dominant positions or attitude to discriminate against
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or intimidate women. But regardless of how much someone has contributed
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to discussions with their knowledge, or how well connected they are
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within our community, or how much they have donated or are planning to
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donate: discriminatory, disparaging or offensive speech or actions,
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including as to (but not limited to) gender, sexuality, race,
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nationality, religion or profession has no place in our community! We are
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proud to be a community of many different nationalities and backgrounds,
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and we cherish our strength in diversity.
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</p>
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<p>
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To further strengthen diversity within the FSFE, we take an active role
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in establishing a welcoming environment for everyone inside our
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community. Our staffers and executives are consulting with experts on
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discrimination and inclusion, and to ensure that in the FSFE all
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participants can, at all times, feel at ease to participate without
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fearing any form of attack, reprisal or harassment, we have adopted a
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<a href="/about/codeofconduct.html">Code of Conduct</a>. Any behaviour
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contrary to the principles enshrined in this Code of Conduct, can and
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shall be brought to the attention of a respective local or our
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<a href="/about/codeofconduct#CARE">central CARE team</a>. We are
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convinced that any case we are being made aware of will help in making
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the environment more attractive and welcoming for everyone.
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</p>
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<blockquote>
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The FSFE's mission is to empower people to control technology. To make
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sure that every human can understand how software works, use the software
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for any purpose, share it with others and adopt it to their needs, it is
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crucial that all women can exercise those rights as well to shape
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technology and create a better society for all of us. We want to
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contribute our part in balancing the power of who controls technology,
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and in general contribute to better gender equality inside our own as
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well as in other Free Software communities. We therefore ask you to join
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us on this path.
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</blockquote>
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</body>
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<tags>
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<tag>front-page</tag>
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<tag content="CARE team">CARE</tag>
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<tag content="Code of Conduct">coc</tag>
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</tags>
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<author id="albers"/>
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</html>
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