To hear that the Ada Initiative is closing down, is not something an open source advocate wants to hear. Specially when it's an initiative that brings women to the open source community, by empowering them and giving them the skills needed to be a part of the community.
Though not all is lost, since their resources are going to be left behind so they can keep benefiting others, the ideal would be that the Ada Initiative to be able to keep on their work.
In many ways, there is a need for women to have place like Ada Initiative as support. Though I'd love to see these kind of initiatives moving away from helping women against harassment and those kind of issues, to being being able focus on other kind of support to women who want to move and work on open source software.
When we lose an initiative like this, not only women lose. We all lose, since it could mean that many talented women could choose to move away from working on open source software, and deprive the community as a whole from what they could bring to the table to benefit everyone in one way or another.
Software development isn't something that only men can do, we need women to be able to work as equals. And, to be able to recognize the ones that deserve to move forward to better posts for their merits. We can't call open source a meritocracy until we gender blind, and focus on each individuals merits.
I crave to see someone picking up where Ada Initiative leaves, it's something that the open source community as a whole needs.
