M. "I think any person who purports to have progressive values needs to look at how they build their networks. That's about as far as I'll go to naming what I think contributes to the problem of the Montreal tech scene."

H. That I think is the real issue. Why is it that I, as a progressive/tech/media guy, seem to build my networks in a certain way that empirically is biased towards men? Part of the story is that the projects I know about mostly happen to be spearheaded by men; but the other question is *why* that's the case. Is it just the projects? Or something to do with the poeple I choose tom hang out with? (For the record, by the way, LibriVox is run mostly by women ...at least they have a bigger share of the 50-50 split).

And there's the awkward thing about networks. They are never only about one thing (they are not just about cool media projects) ... Your social network happens to be people you enjoy hanging out with who happen to talk about things that interest you who happen, in a subset, also to *do* things that interest you. So you know them socially often more than wrt to project.

Martine: The whole purpose of Julien's post, and I guess mine too, was to generate discussion ... so the more branches the better. but there is a very curious thing that I have heard before (barcamp for instance): do women assume they will not be welcome in a discussion filled with boys? why? why does Julien's post have 5 women to 40 men?

MK: the discussion came up referring to Montreal, so ... maybe someone should make such a public page for tech/women in montreal, to make it easier for cavemen like me (ps tinyurl is VERY cool).

by the way, how come no women are sigining up for this? (I don't mean that facetiously, it's a real question):
http://tinyurl.com/35b3rv