Gender balance in R

Hi there,

I can't help to notice that the gender balance among R developers and 
ordinary members is extremely skewed (as it is with open source software 
in general).

Have a look at http://www.r-project.org/foundation/memberlist.html - at 
most a handful of women are listed among the 'supporting members', and 
none at all among the 29 'ordinary members'.

On the other hand I personally know many happy R users of both genders.

My questions are thus: Should R developers (and users) be worried that 
the 'other half' is excluded? If so, how could female R users/developers 
be persuaded to become more visible (e.g. added as supporting or 
ordinary members)?

Thanks,

Maarten

| Dr. Maarten Blaauw
| Lecturer in Chronology
|
| School of Geography, Archaeology & Palaeoecology
| Queen's University Belfast, UK
|
| www  http://www.chrono.qub.ac.uk/blaauw
| tel  +44 (0)28 9097 3895