One of the reasons that the OSCON panel on women in open source was very interesting to me was that the Apache Software Foundation was in the middle of a discussion about the best way to increase the participation of women in Apache projects. So I'm very happy to say that those involved in the process have come to consensus and that women@apache.org is now available.

Here's the announcement:

The Apache Software Foundation is looking to start a new mailing list for women!

The goal of the women@apache.orgmailing list is to foster greater participation by women in the ASF community. The list provides a supportive, encouraging forum to help women become more involved in ASF projects. The list is open to all genders - you might be a woman who wants to become more involved or you might be someone who would just like to help create a welcoming environment. Subscriptions are moderated, but public archives are available.

If you are interested in joining, please send an email to women-subscribe@apache.org, with a brief sentence or two describing who you are.