gender issues (was: Re: [WSIS CS-Plenary] PCT and WGIG)

[Georg C. F. Greve]

 || On Sun, 16 Jan 2005 13:49:53 -0500
 || Taran Rampersad <cnd at knowprose.com> wrote: 

 tr> It is *another* conversation.

Yes, exactly. 

That is why it was only briefly mentioned in the discussion as an
example of how these things would look in another conversation and
context. No comparison if issues was made.


 tr> For my part, I think that bringing gender equality into it,
 tr> *especially* in the WSIS context, is not only irrelevant but
 tr> misleading. 'Gender equality' is a completely separate issue -
 tr> and comes with it's own challenges. For example, someone from the
 tr> UN 'Global South' who is female has more voice than someone from
 tr> the Global South who is male.  That's not equality. That's a
 tr> method to try to deal with imbalance which, inadvertently,
 tr> creates imbalance.

It occured to me that it is somewhat ironical how you seem to prove
Beatriz right by contradicting her.

Leaving aside Free Software for a moment and considering the gender
aspect, it is interesting how from the above paragraph it seems to be
the womens fault that there are so few of them to be found in so many
circles that some intervention is needed to come closer to a 50/50
situation. 

Why not blame the men who have filled up the other 80% of the slots?

I do not like any preference and quota rules any more than you do, but
we have to realize that sometimes things won't change unless we try to
actively push in a certain direction.

Answering to your paragraph above: 

Yes, personal injustice can arise as a result of this.

The question is whether that is a price worth to be paid.

I believe it is necessary, while I wish it would not be.

Regards,
Georg

-- 
Georg C. F. Greve                                 <greve at fsfeurope.org>
Free Software Foundation Europe	                 (http://fsfeurope.org)
GNU Business Network                        (http://mailman.gnubiz.org)
Brave GNU World	                           (http://brave-gnu-world.org)
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