The Software Development Times has published an in-depth look the Free Software Foundation's (FSF) attempts at breaking down barriers for women in open source. It highlights the recently released report by the FSF's Women's Caucus, a mini-summit held last year to address issues in the FOSS community that some say prevent more females from participating.

Nearly a year ago the FSF held a mini-summit for women in free software to investigate practical ways to increase the number of women involved in the free software community. Those that attended the summit formed the Women's Caucus, and have been working to develop practical policy to recommend to the FSF and the wider free software community.

I have been given the opportunity to meet and get to know so many amazingly talented and skilled women who are in Open Source and more specifically the Ubuntu Community. The women I am writing about make the work and contributions they provide to Ubuntu, Open Source Projects, and initiatives to increase the visibility of women in open source, seem effortlessly awesome!

The KDE Community participated in the Outreach Program for Women (OPW) for the first time this year. It was more successful than expected. KDE got many great applications and mentored 4 students contributing to Free Software. The Outreach Program for Women encourages women to get involved in free and open source software.

On various women's mailing lists, a subscriber has raised the idea of a distribution developed "for and by women." So far, the idea has met with a cool reception. It might even be a troll. However, if such a distro ever gets underway, it would be very much in the spirit of the community, and might give more women the background and confidence to reduce the gender gap in free software.

Women in Linux (or technology in general) has always been a rare breed. I have been very unsuccessful trying to make my female friends or family members getting interested in linux. So in my quest in getting more women interested in linux I have made this list of women who have actively contributed in linux community.

The Women's Caucus is seeking an intern to assist with its work to increase the number of women involved in free software.

The Free Software Foundation (FSF) and the GNOME Foundation are targeting higher women's participation in the community. The first step is a "mini-summit" on "Women in Free Software."

The Free Software Foundation will host a mini-summit on Women in Free Software to discuss how the free software community can cultivate and increase participation by women in free software's development and activism communities.