Do you know of Karen or Bradley's reddit username? The reason I ask is because of some information I discovered. Specifically, I had originally thought that Outreachy is legal ... because I knew that certain discrimination laws weren't symmetric. Specifically, I knew that for age discrimination, it only protects those over 40 ... but it does not protect the youth. I thought this might apply to sex discrimination too ... but it turns out it doesn't.

While one can have some programs just for women (e.g. women's shelters, etc.), for employment it is my understanding that this is not the case ( see http://www.eeoc.gov/laws/types/sex.cfm ). Employment law is enforced by the EEOC. Here is what they say ( http://www.eeoc.gov/laws/practices/index.cfm ):

Job Advertisements

It is illegal for an employer to publish a job advertisement that shows a preference for or discourages someone from applying for a job because of his or her race, color, religion, sex (including gender identity, sexual orientation, and pregnancy), national origin, age (40 or older), disability or genetic information.

For example, a help-wanted ad that seeks "females" or "recent college graduates" may discourage men and people over 40 from applying and may violate the law.

Now, they say "may violate the law" ... but my understanding is that the only exception would be for a BFOQ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bona_fide_occupational_qualifications and those only apply due to job requirements (i.e. a man can't do the job).

Clearly Karen is a lawyer ... and, so, probably has researched this, but it looks bad to me. For example, it might be that for temporary employment (internships) one can discriminate ... but I kind of doubt it.