From thoughtless comments on mailing lists to outright rudeness, women constantly battle the perception that there is no comfortable place for them in the predominately male world of open source software. That, however, may be beginning to change.
With the advent of projects like GNOME Foundation's Summer Outreach Program aimed at supporting women developers, and with women-centric LUGs such as LinuxChix and Debian Women springing up, women are finding the respect that most community members -- male and female -- feel they deserve.
http://www.itmanagersjournal.com/feature/20990?SSO=2e961c43f9fee3810a9da0bb5d552cee