Google search of "Hacker" mostly brings men or their stereotypes and most people stay away because of the negativity around the term. So, I would like to know how many women techies really understood that "Hacker News" has nothing to do with hacking and are regulars to HN.
This is old and things have changed substantially since I wrote it, but it is the only repository of raw data on the topic that I know of:<p><a href="http://micheleincalifornia.blogspot.com/2015/01/some-raw-data-on-prominence-of-women-on.html" rel="nofollow">http://micheleincalifornia.blogspot.com/2015/01/some-raw-dat...</a><p>In the last year or so, I have noticed a big uptick in old handles that were inactive for a long time now participating and self identifying as female. I have long seen evidence that a lot of women here actively downplay or hide their gender. Historical surveys have suggested that 2 to 3 percent of the membership was female, but I believe that figure to be low because of self reported behavior of women hiding their gender. But women appear to be coming out of the woodwork these days.<p>I hit the leaderboard in October under a different handle. I appear to be the first openly female member of the leaderboard.<p>I feel there has been a lot of positive change in the last few years.