The Gnome Outreach Program for Women

Silencing the Trolls

The Outreach Program for Women is not without critics. Sandler admits that the program has been called sexist – presumably because it is only open to women – and Ford cautions applicants that "you'll definitely run into some trolls." However, one measure of the program's success is that such criticism has decreased over the years. Probably, it helps that the guidelines for applications are demanding enough that the accusations of lowered standards that are often leveled at programs meant to encourage women's participation in any field become ridiculous. And, of course, the success and growth of the program speaks for itself: "We think that people are generally positive about the Outreach Program for Women because it is establishing a good track record of success," Sandler says. For instance, after participating in the program, "Wikipedia went from having only ever having one female participant in Google Summer of Code to having seven this year. So it's being borne out that the effects Gnome has seen on participation of women are replicable." Clearly, the program's success is speaking for itself, and silencing many of the skeptics. Already, the program could claim to be the most successful FOSS program for women ever, and, so far, this success shows every sign of continuing.