This blog post heavily quotes my occasional collaborator Cal Evans. The quotes are used with permission. The link to the original is at the bottom.
Despite the problems with sexism in the tech community in general, the PHP community has had it pretty easy. While there are potentially a number of reasons, the founder of phpWomen Ligaya Turmell shared it this way (paraphrased from Cal):
The PHP community has not had the problem with sexism that other communities seem to have but that is because from the early days, we have had strong women role models. Women like Lara Thomson, Sara Goleman, Liz Smith, and the like have played such a prominent role in the community that no, we’ve not had as big of a problem.
So I am honestly surprised to see this promoted at a conference:
*sigh*
This was put together by none other than “Web & PHP Magazine” which is run by S&S Media. And their first response after being challenged on it:
I have already had a run in with Frank & Massoud of S&S Media in 2010, so honestly this doesn’t surprise me at all. S&S Media is the reason that after being at the first seven ZendCons, I am unwilling to interact with them at all. I’ve also asked repeatedly to be removed from their PHP & Web mailing list and it still hasn’t worked.
Cal Evans said it well and I support him wholeheartedly:
To all PHP Conference organizers, I will not participate in any conference that @webphp or their parent company S&S is involved in. I will not attend, I will not speak. If I agree to speak or purchase a ticket and then they get involved in any way, I will refuse to participate.
You can read Cal Evans’ entire blog post “Sexism and PHP” here.