Jun 29 2011
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Call to Action: PyLadies Seattle + Sydney, AU + Wellington, NZ
PyLadies is a worldwide community of ladies and supporting gentlemen who use the Python programming language.
We are currently putting together an open-source PyLadies kit. I hope it’ll help Pythonistas in various cities start their own local chapters. There’s not much in there yet, but there will be. We’ll be putting the contents up on Read the Docs (rtfd.org) shortly.
I would like to help interested Python developers (hey women & men, I’m talking to you!) start PyLadies chapters in other cities, starting with inaugural PyLadies meetups on these dates. Email me at audreyr@pyladies.com if you will be available, and suggest a few good times:
Seattle PyLadies
July 7 or 10, 2011
Sydney, Australia PyLadies
August 19 or 24, 2011
Wellington, New Zealand PyLadies
August 29, 2011
How this works: This is a meetup for beginner through advanced Python developers who are interested in gender diversity. It is not a workshop. We’ll get together somewhere, ideally at a local Python company willing to step forward and host the event. (I’ll thank you with all my heart for helping improve diversity in the Python world if your company hosts.)
I’ll walk you through the kit and help you build a PyLadies chapter in your city. I have some important tips and tricks to make it happen, including:
- Get as many ladies as possible from the first 2 or so meetups to commit to being co-organizers. The more people feel personally invested in the group from the start, the better. 2-10 is a good number.
- If you’re a gentleman, encourage the ladies to both lead and take credit. Step back and take a supporting volunteer role. Empower them by letting them become known leaders.
We’ll go around the room with introductions, telling each other a bit about what we all do.
When we’re done talking and planning, we’ll go out for drinks to celebrate and start building friendships with other locals who care about diversity in Python.
There’s something magical about being in a room of female Python developers, or even just being a man in a room of Python developers where 60% are experienced female devs. As your chapter grows, you’ll see “Diversity as a Dependency” (as Anna Martelli Ravenscroft puts it) begin to happen in real life.
