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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.
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Replies

Esther Payne :bisexual_flag:onepict@chaos.social
Oct 21, 2026, 10:29 AM
@Gina @fosdem I didn't know you'd seen my talk. Well more forgot, memory is a bit like a sieve now 🤣
It was a bit of a disaster at the time 🤣
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GinaGina@fosstodon.org
Oct 21, 2026, 10:30 AM
@onepict @fosdem Nuh uh! I distinctly remember it as a good talk, and this was like 6 years ago!
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Esther Payne :bisexual_flag:onepict@chaos.social
Oct 21, 2026, 10:39 AM
@Gina @fosdem I really need to put some more presentations together.
I do tend to thrive more with a live audience.
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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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Murray 🇪🇺 :xubuntu:MurrayWindripper@fosstodon.org
Oct 21, 2026, 5:40 PM
@onepict
"Legally" might be stretching it a bit there. Sorry for the interjection but I'm still pissed over Brexit.
@Gina @fosdem
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Esther Payne :bisexual_flag:onepict@chaos.social
Oct 21, 2026, 5:58 PM
@MurrayWindripper @Gina @fosdem I literally cried outside the EU parliament building in the 31st of January.
I'm still angry about it myself.
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Esther Payne :bisexual_flag:onepict@chaos.social
Oct 21, 2026, 10:36 AM
@Gina @fosdem I'm sorry they rejected the track.
Perhaps this is something that could be a part of #OFFDEM @natacha ?
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natacha 🍉natacha@s10y.eu
Oct 21, 2026, 11:56 AM
@onepict @Gina @fosdem
Yes OFFDEM is happening this year, and indeed Equity is at the heart of what we do, and we do have rooms.
The topics that interest you are discussed in the bonds workgroup, you might want to join it on OFFDEM forum: https://oxygen.offdem.net/g/bonds.wg
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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.
https://arxiv.org/pdf/2105.08777
The Covid 19 pandemic had a huge impact on female public code contributions.
https://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.
https://www.scrippsnews.com/science-and-tech/gender-bias-in-open-source-coding-may-be-tech-s-latest-setback
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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, 1:02 PM
@Gina @fosdem
I think many of us in #FOSS do need to consider the difficulties for the Global South in participating.
@anna who attended #FOSDEM a few years ago, wrote about their experiences here:
https://notapplicable.dev/make-room/
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GinaGina@fosstodon.org
Oct 21, 2026, 1:06 PM
@onepict @fosdem @anna true, we were looking into pooling funds for speakers.
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Esther Payne :bisexual_flag:onepict@chaos.social
Oct 21, 2026, 1:14 PM
@Gina @fosdem @anna
I wonder if it would fall under the EUs new Higher Education Initiative funds. It just got announced on the Horizon Malta mailing list.
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Esther Payne :bisexual_flag:onepict@chaos.social
Oct 21, 2026, 1:16 PM
@Gina
" EIT Higher Education Initiative<https://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<https://commission.europa.eu/topics/competitiveness/union-skills_en>, the STEM Education Strategic Plan<https://education.ec.europa.eu/sites/default/files/2025-03/STEM_Education_Strategic_Plan_COM_2025_89_1_EN_0.pdf>, the Competitiveness Compass<https://commission.europa.eu/topics/competitiveness/competitiveness-compass_en> and the Clean Industrial Deal<https://commission.europa.eu/topics/competitiveness/clean-industrial-deal_en>."
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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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