[dragonwriter]

Limiting the gender is probably expressly intended to limit the talk in a particular way as one of its central motivations. (It may limit it in other ways as a side effect, which may either be something the organizers haven't considered or a price they are willing to pay.)

[blablablame]

I sorta kinda understand that, but where I live (southern europe) I always had different experiences. As soon as any talk/workshop/whatever is 'segregated', there is a lot more gender issues talked than when it is mixed. Over the top example, but as as soon as men (even in professional settings) gather only as men, sex related bits show up in talks/etc, and when it is a group of women (according to my wife) it usually degenerates into a feelings kinda talk over objective talks. When it is mixed, I never felt there were objectifying of women or female speakers focused to much on 'womens topics'

(and sorry if I seem insensitive, and I'm sure there are women (and men, and gays, and blacks, etc) that have been victimized, but for the last few years, I've found that the 'segregated' events end up being more and vile than the mixed ones)

[gravypod]

I don't understand this. I'm a ham and there are a lot of women who are in the hobby (although there isn't a large participation from this group) and I'd say that most hams don't give a crap about talking about anything other then radio-related topics. It's a side effect of truly loving what you're working on. If you're finding people showing up to meetups just to hook up with women then they're not really in love with the topic, they are in love with the crowed.

Removing men doesn't fix this problem as there will still be women coming to the even who don't love the topic but again love the crowd.

I'd say just keep the technical discussion at levels that exclude those who don't care about the topic. Those who are actually really interested will stick around and ask questions, those who are there for an image or for hooking up wont be bothered.

Works great in the ham communities (speaking from a just learning perspective). I usually only understand 10-30% of what all the gray haired individuals around me are talking about, but whenever I ask a question I always get a great answer and explanation. People who don't care to ask and just care to show up and look cool don't last too long. It's basically them opting in to sit in on a Fields lecture.