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  • GinaGina@fosstodon.org
    Oct 21, 2026, 8:37 AM

    Without this DEI program, I wouldn't have worked in IT. Again, grateful to Capgemini ❤️

    Unfortunately I now worked in corporate IT. I was the only woman in every team. A self taught junior dev. The micro aggressions that I had to deal were _insane_.

    Daily:
    - expected to get coffee and take notes
    - ignored, side eyed or talked over
    - expected to write CSS as a Java dev because "girls are good at that"
    - SO MANY weird and inappropriate jokes and comments
    - weird invites to a senior devs house

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Replies

  • GinaGina@fosstodon.org
    Oct 21, 2026, 8:59 AM

    Me and the literal 6 or so other women in this giant engineering dept even teamed up and participated in a hackathon. There were like 200 men and us in our pink sweaters :')

    We made a food tracking app or something dumb, so we didn't win, but I do remember being a bit uncomfortable sitting in a hangar with 200 men overnight. The guys didn't engage much with us. It was fine, but not necessarily welcoming.

    edit: typo

    Linkedin posts from 2016 of me at a Capgemini hackathon, with our all female team. We wore cute pink sweaters and made a dumb app :')
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  • GinaGina@fosstodon.org
    Oct 21, 2026, 9:58 AM

    Anecdotally, how not to do inclusive leadership.

    I had a senior manager whose wife had broken both arms on a cycling trip and he was complaining NON-STOP about now having to do everything at home while working fulltime. When I pointed out that I also did everything at home while working fulltime, and I was fine, he said "yeah but it comes natural to you" (plural you, 'jullie' in Dutch). This was in a team meeting. The same manager would often try to give secretarial tasks. Fun times.

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  • Elricelricofmelnibone@mastodon.social
    Oct 21, 2026, 8:38 AM

    @Gina Expected to get coffee? What the actual fuck? That's terrible. I hope your former coworkers read this and are deeply ashamed. FFS.

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  • Lukeluke@social.sdfeu.org
    Oct 21, 2026, 9:00 AM

    @Gina bless them, they probably weren't used to seeing actual real live women in the flesh!

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  • GinaGina@fosstodon.org
    Oct 21, 2026, 10:19 AM

    @sandorspruit I've been this person as well, but it does come with a certain baseline of respect because they assume you know wizardry. 🧙‍♂️

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  • Sseq@infosec.exchange
    Oct 21, 2026, 10:07 AM

    @Gina Ugh, what a f-ing douchebag. I feel sorry for whoever married him.

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  • GinaGina@fosstodon.org
    Oct 21, 2026, 10:15 AM

    Anywho, after Capgemini I joined Mama Cash which, as a feminist fund, was a breath of fresh air. I got to build their open source stack and started going to #FOSDEM.

    "A sea of white men" would be an understatement. It was intimidating. I felt like such an imposter. Barely anyone looked like me. I remember being super impressed by a talk by @onepict 🫶

    I really liked the #FOSS ecosystem. Sure, there were a few awkward encounters, but overall @fosdem always has a great vibe.

    A Mastodon post from 2020 of me at FOSDEM with a coffee at the Mozilla devroom
    A mastodon post of us submitting a proposal to talk about our fully foss environment at Mama Cash
    A Mastodon post from 2020 from me about Esther Payne's talk, and how cool it was
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  • Esther Payne :bisexual_flag:onepict@chaos.social
    Oct 21, 2026, 10:41 AM

    @Gina @fosdem I'd spent the Friday before in Brussels looking for that EU t-shirt.

    Brexit had happened legally and I was sad and angry about it. So I decided to wear the flag along with my peacock feather leggings.

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  • Esther Payne :bisexual_flag:onepict@chaos.social
    Oct 21, 2026, 10:51 AM

    @Gina @fosdem But it was good to present at FOSDEM and I'm glad you enjoyed it.

    We do need more DEI tracks and opportunities for folks to present as Gina points out it does mitigate the imposter syndrome.

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  • econadseconads@mendeddrum.org
    Oct 21, 2026, 12:35 PM

    @onepict
    I'm still of the opinion that while I'm not like in the top 10% of developers, I sure as hell am better than a lot of the trash out there. But then I have a pretty low opinion of the tech industry in general :( hard to feel like an imposter when you feel so surrounded by cowboys.

    @Gina @fosdem

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  • bosskbossk@bossk.de
    Oct 21, 2026, 11:46 AM

    @Gina I'm so so sorry to hear about and you are not the only one and I talked to a lot of female devs it is always the same.
    This is a big issue and I have seen and experienced too. I was kind of responsible for DEI for a small company and was also in charge of hiring. I took care that we tried to always get female candidates too into our interview process, sometimes we just didn’t get any female candidates.  Also when their CVs didn’t look the best, I know that (most of the) male (devs) go over the top on their CVs, cover letters etc and that (most) female (devs) are under selling themselves in these.
    During one hiring we had an amazing female candidate and after the last round of interviews the female team lead, who was looking for a new team member, disqualified her as she was in her mind “too cocky” and “too confident”. She never said that before or after to any male candidate. In my perception the candidate never really was. She did know her stuff and just told so. But for the team lead, this was not something what a woman did and that this would disrupt the team 🤯😭 Mind you she was a woman too.
    That whole situation shocked me and was bonkers to me. I tried to intervene and told her differently and in the end it was her decision.
    This is a very sad reality and we should talk about it and fight it.

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  • GinaGina@fosstodon.org
    Oct 21, 2026, 12:26 PM

    @fosdem Now for some numbers.

    Women are about 9.8% of OSS contributors; only 5% of projects have women as core developers.
    arxiv.org/pdf/2105.08777

    The Covid 19 pandemic had a huge impact on female public code contributions.
    arxiv.org/pdf/2202.07278

    For women who aren’t project insiders, acceptance of PR's falls from 71.8% to 62.5% when their Github profile made their gender identifiable. Aka documented bias.
    scrippsnews.com/science-and-te

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  • GinaGina@fosstodon.org
    Oct 21, 2026, 12:26 PM

    @fosdem
    These stats don't even mention other intersectionalities based on race, gender identity, sexual orientation, ableness, etc, which are equally impactful.

    The #FOSS ecosystem might be missing out on incredibly talented contributors. Which were exactly the type of people we wanted to attract to #FOSDEM27.

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  • GinaGina@fosstodon.org
    Oct 21, 2026, 12:41 PM

    And btw, I do have to note that I consider 99% of the white men that I usually work with to be well intended allies. I'm sure that many of #FOSDEM 's visitors would have proudly stuck our cool 'not a tech bro' stickers to their laptops. ❤️

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  • maswanmaswan@mastodon.acc.sunet.se
    Oct 21, 2026, 12:50 PM

    @Gina FWIW, your proposed track would have been a strong motivator for me to try to make space for fosdem in my already busy travel schedule. -- a white man.

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  • A-wai :debian:awai@fosstodon.org
    Oct 21, 2026, 12:54 PM

    @Gina Thank you for this very informational (alhtough quite disappointing) thread!

    I do hope the devroom rejection won't stop you from from submitting a proposal for the main track (and maybe even a stand?), I'm quite optimistic about such a talk being accepted AND able to fill in Jansson :)

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  • Maxmax@toet.dnzm.nl
    Oct 21, 2026, 1:00 PM

    @Gina I kinda want that sticker (and I think a couple of my colleagues, too). Lemme know when you stick 'em in a shop, somewhere!

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  • Cynthia Christieenlivener@mastodon.social
    Oct 21, 2026, 1:22 PM

    @Gina

    Do these well intended allies stand up for you in the moment you're asked to get coffee or whatever, or do they just express how sorry they are for what you deal with, after the fact?

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  • Esther Payne :bisexual_flag:onepict@chaos.social
    Oct 21, 2026, 1:16 PM

    @Gina

    " EIT Higher Education Initiative<eit-hei.eu/> invites consortia of higher education institutions, businesses, research organisations, public bodies and other innovation partners to apply.

    The call is aligned with EU initiatives, such as the Union of Skills<commission.europa.eu/topics/co>, the STEM Education Strategic Plan<education.ec.europa.eu/sites/d>, the Competitiveness Compass<commission.europa.eu/topics/co> and the Clean Industrial Deal<commission.europa.eu/topics/co>."

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  • Esther Payne :bisexual_flag:onepict@chaos.social
    Oct 21, 2026, 1:17 PM

    @Gina "
    Selected projects will strengthen the capacity of higher education institutions by developing innovation, entrepreneurship and intellectual property skills among students and staff across science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) and related fields most relevant to manufacturing and deep tech innovation.

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  • Esther Payne :bisexual_flag:onepict@chaos.social
    Oct 21, 2026, 1:18 PM

    @Gina "They will also improve knowledge sharing, technology transfer and intellectual property management, while building stronger links with industry partners, investors and innovation networks. "

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  • GinaGina@fosstodon.org
    Oct 21, 2026, 1:20 PM

    @onepict Sounds interesting, but knowing the EU, also really bureaucratic. I dont think we'd have needed more than 10k to fly a bunch of people in.

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  • Esther Payne :bisexual_flag:onepict@chaos.social
    Oct 21, 2026, 1:23 PM

    @Gina Sometimes I wish we had an @nlnet but for the things it can't cover.

    Like the EU did a whole new European Bauhaus Fund, but hardly anyone heard about it and possibly wouldn't have qualified.

    I'm so grateful to NLNetFoundation for facing that bureaucracy for our projects.

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  • GinaGina@fosstodon.org
    Oct 21, 2026, 10:29 AM

    @alexadeswift @dianea I have many more examples of micro-aggressions like that. Just shitty comments, not big enough to do anything with, but enough to be death by a 1000 cuts. It's so disheartening :(

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  • CaptainMaluCaptainMalu@mastodon.social
    Oct 21, 2026, 10:34 AM

    @Gina My brain made a dream responds to his bs:
    "Don't be so hysterical. How will you ever find a wife with this attitude? If you can't even handle this how will you ever become a father? And also smile more."

    But sadly it wouldn't ever have the same effect on such douchebags as it has in my fantasy.

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  • Awkward TuringAwkwardTuring@infosec.exchange
    Oct 21, 2026, 9:12 AM

    @Gina this is so unhinged. It's one thing to think weird stuff, but a whole other level to let that thought cross the brain-mouth-barrier.

    Or maybe I'm to generous and this is actual incel stuff. Unhinged it is at least.

    We're mentoring a young women in cybersec right now. She's doing rly well and so far I didn't sense any weird vibes towards her. That said: she hasn't been to the big tables yet. What can we - as colleagues and mentors - do, to support her when time comes and she gets shit on? Mind sharing what might have helped you in these scenarios?

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  • GinaGina@fosstodon.org
    Oct 21, 2026, 9:22 AM

    @AwkwardTuring The thing about the 'weird and inappropriate jokes and comments' part is that I don't think a lot of them meant any actual harm with them. They were just.. odd. You learn to awkwardly smile them away real quick.

    Idk what would have helped. It being recognized and addressed by older coworkers? I was too junior to call anything out (and sometimes didn't even recognize these things until much later).

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  • Awkward TuringAwkwardTuring@infosec.exchange
    Oct 21, 2026, 9:28 AM

    @Gina aye. I guessed as much. Had a female boss for several years who did exactly what you mentioned towards me. But idk what would have helped in terms of support, without exposing me even further.

    What I thought of doing is (obv) not laughing at smth like that and firmly "move on with the conversation" or shielding my coworker by mentioning that X should not be her task - Actively holding the professional space/frame so to speak.

    Not sure if that helps, but I honestly don't know what to do without framing her as damsel in distress of sorts.

    Anyway thanks for sharing! Rly appreciated!

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  • baconandcoconutbaconandcoconut@freeradical.zone
    Oct 21, 2026, 11:29 AM

    @AwkwardTuring @Gina Depending on many, many factors, you might consider two things. 1) having a few phrases ready to stop interruption eg, 'hang on, I'd like to hear the rest of Sarah's point' and 2) a few phrases ready for weird comments, "Huh, that's an odd thing to say in a work meeting." or "That's not really on topic for this meeting." and then turn the conversation to the next point.

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  • Bit-BoutiqueBit_Boutique@tech.lgbt
    Oct 21, 2026, 9:36 AM

    @Gina Witnessed the switch from "CSS is not REAL programming" to "With SASS we can finally code CSS!" to "CSS is now Turing-proof, so REAL programming language, dudes are made to do this!".

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  • Quixoticgeekquixoticgeek@v.st
    Oct 21, 2026, 10:26 AM

    @Gina when I outright refuse to be the one that takes notes in meetings, and even have insisted that a younger junior woman (and the only other in the meeting) also not take notes. Then I get called aside and told I'm being "not a team player". I'm burnt out from the constant battle that is being a woman in tech.

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  • GinaGina@fosstodon.org
    Oct 21, 2026, 10:27 AM

    @quixoticgeek Bwhahha now that I'm older and come with a bit of seniority, I make a BIG DEAL out of it when it happens. Teaching moment and all.

    Edit: also, sorry that you're feeling burned out. I didn't mean to make it sound like I was laughing at that. :blobcatsad:

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  • Quixoticgeekquixoticgeek@v.st
    Oct 21, 2026, 10:28 AM

    @Gina yeah. I've been in this industry for over a quarter century. I have very few fucks left to give.

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  • Tyrone Slothropslothrop@chaos.social
    Oct 21, 2026, 10:35 AM

    @Gina “Why are there so few women in tech? We shall never know. It must be something about their brains” 🤷

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