Anecdotal only, but there are a LOT more women (both in numbers and proportionally) in code4lib than there were in, say, 2004. We weren't counting back then, alas. Our community is clearly doing a lot to move in the direction of inclusiveness. A lot of that happens in one-on-one interactions, which is part of what can make conferences so amazing. 

Bess

On Nov 27, 2012, at 9:38 AM, Corey A Harper <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

> I did back-of-envelope math last year, based on the attendees list,
> and my calculations showed that 54 out of 244 attendees were female,
> so about 22%. This # is surely off as there were about 25 names that I
> was unable to put a gender with. I counted these as male to get a
> conservative estimate.
> 
> I believe this to be an increase from previous years, or perhaps
> comparable to 2011. I'd guess all 3 percentages (attendees, proposals,
> presenters) have been steadily increasing at pace since 2006. We can
> probably estimate that the 2012 conf was 22% women, 2013 proposers
> were 16% women, and presenters will be 12% women.
> 
> It would be interesting to do a longitudinal study of all 3 numbers
> and some nifty data vis alongside results of the survey being
> discussed. In addition to increasingly all 3 numbers, our goal should
> also be reducing the (albeit slight) discrepancy across the ratios.
> 
> -Corey
> 
> On Tue, Nov 27, 2012 at 9:31 AM, Bohyun Kim <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>> By any chance, do we have the numbers of the previous code4lib conference attendees by the female/male ratio?
>> 
>> ~Bohyun
>> By any chance, do we have the numbers of the previous code4lib conference attendees by the female/male ratio?
> 
>> ________________________________________
>> From: Code for Libraries [[log in to unmask]] on behalf of Ross Singer [[log in to unmask]]
>> Sent: Tuesday, November 27, 2012 10:20 AM
>> To: [log in to unmask]
>> Subject: [CODE4LIB]
>> 
>> On Nov 27, 2012, at 10:03 AM, Chad Nelson <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>> 
>>> Rosalyn,
>>> 
>>> If we are only 17% women, when we are subset of the broader Library
>>> community, which is majority women, then we are doing something wrong. And
>>> that deeper question, what do we need to do to encourage more women to
>>> participate in the community, to make the community as a whole appealing
>>> and safe, is the question I am really asking.
>>> 
>> 
>> I'm not entirely sure I agree with this.  The issue is less about where the number is now than where it's going (and how quickly).
>> 
>> Is our (completely hypothetical) 17% up from 2006 (or whenever), when Code4lib started?  If so, then I'm less inclined to panic about the statistics and just continue working towards making the community amenable to more groups.
>> 
>> If it has plateaued or regressed, then, yes, we need to be extremely concerned.
>> 
>> -Ross.
>> 
>>> Chad
>>> 
>>> 
>>> On Tue, Nov 27, 2012 at 9:57 AM, Rosalyn Metz <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>>> 
>>>> I think first we would need to do a survey of how many women are in the
>>>> community.  if it turns out that this community is only 17% women then
>>>> we're on target.  who knows, maybe we're actually 10% women and we're way
>>>> above target.  in which case the real question might be "how do we get more
>>>> women in tech."
>>>> 
>>>> 
>>>> On Tue, Nov 27, 2012 at 9:11 AM, Chad Nelson <[log in to unmask]>
>>>> wrote:
>>>> 
>>>>> Ooops. Hit the wrong key.
>>>>> 
>>>>> So, about our presenters...
>>>>> 
>>>>> Is it a problem that only 4 of our 33 presenters are women? Or that only
>>>> 16
>>>>> of 95 proposers were women?
>>>>> 
>>>>> Is there something this community needs to do to encourage more women to
>>>>> feel like they can and should speak / propose sessions?
>>>>> 
>>>> 
> 
> 
> 
> -- 
> Corey A Harper
> Metadata Services Librarian
> New York University Libraries
> 20 Cooper Square, 3rd Floor
> New York, NY 10003-7112
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