While no one is disputing the importance of the minutes of the meeting, I think the point that Jessica was making is that the facilitator should not assume that the woman in the meeting should take on the note-taking role.

Thanks for a well thought out commentary on women in technology roles. After being in the industry for many years, I'm still amazed at the small percentage of women in the field. Attending Microsoft's Tech Ed a few years ago was eye opening because only about 10% of the attendees were women.

However women need to take on some of the responsibility for growth in this area also. I've attended sessions on Women in Technology where the primary focus is Work/Life balance and family issues. I completely understand that these are critical areas and will continue to be as long as women still maintain the primary responsibilities for home and raising children as evidenced by many recent studies. However in these types of forums, wouldn't our time be better spent by trying to enhance careers, tackling some of the perception issues addressed in this forum, finding ways to encourage young women to enter this field? If we continue to focus on the family issues in professional forums, we only confirm the perception that women are not as interested in careers as men.