Please Don't Go — Increasing Women's Participation in Open Source Software

Abstract

Women represent less than 24% of the software development industry and suffer from various types of prejudice and biases. In Open Source Software projects, despite a variety of efforts to increase diversity and multi-gendered participation, women are even more underrepresented (less than 10%). My research focuses on answering the question: How can OSS communities increase women's participation in OSS projects? I will identify the different OSS career pathways, and develop a holistic view of women's motivations to join or leave OSS, along with their definitions of success. Based on this empirical investigation, I will work together with the Linux Foundation to design attraction and retention strategies focused on women. Before and after implementing the strategies, I will conduct empirical studies to evaluate the state of the practice and understand the implications of the strategies.