by, for, and about women in science, technology, engineering, & math

In addition to blogs and other public online resources, one of the great ways the internet can support women in technology is through mailing lists. Lists have the advantage that your message asking for advice or suggesting a meetup goes directly into people’s inboxes — but even more importantly, lists and the messages on them can be private, so you can complain about a co-worker or ask about a delicate situation on a private mailing list and feel safe saying things you wouldn’t want to share on a public blog. Women-only or women-primarily lists are also great places to ask technical questions with less fear of embarrassment for asking something that might be obvious to someone with more experience (most of these lists have policies explicitly supporting “newbie” questions and requiring a polite, friendly attitude from anyone who responds).

Here are some of the lists I’m on:

• Systers — this list has been around since it was founded by Anita Borg in 1987(!). It’s a big list with a lot of members. People on the list share job offers, ask for advice, or just rant about their experiences. Systers is part of the Anita Borg Institute for Women and Technology, and in addition to running the mailing list, sponsors the Pass-It-On Awards (which are funded by donations from members).

• Linuxchix — this organization for women interested in Linux/free/open-source software (motto: “Be polite. Be helpful.”) has several lists with different purposes. Grrls-only is a private, non-archived list only for women (which makes it particularly suitable for discussing sensitive issues); to join the list you have to confirm that you are a woman and interested in Linux. Part of the point of this list is to provide a resource for women trying to learn more about Linux to ask questions without encountering the condescension or sexism that Linux-using men in other fora are sometimes prone to. Men are welcome in the other LinuxChix lists, like Programming or Techtalk, but the lists will still be more women-dominated than your average technical mailing list.

• Devchix — this list is specifically for women who are programmers (while the other lists above are broader in scope, encompassing fields like system administration or simply using Linux). There are a lot of vocal members who are Ruby programmers, but the list isn’t Ruby-exclusive and you can probably find “chix” on there who use whatever your language of choice is. Devchix also has a group blog on technical issues.

I don’t know if there are similar lists available for women in other areas of STEM — if you’re in a non-computing field, please share your experiences with mailing lists in the comments!