> At the same time, they see the technical alpha dogs barking up a storm and think, "I don't want to get anywhere near that person". I was going to write somet

> At the same time, they see the technical alpha dogs barking up a storm and think, "I don't want to get anywhere near that person". I was going to write something about self-selection in the field, but I think you have made a more important point there. The technically competent loudmouths attract attention, as well as a disproportionately large audience. For pretty much anyone looking from the outside it appears as a kind of cheerleader-driven mob mentality. And we are surprised that the industry actively repels people who do not fit into this mold? This also has become a perverse selective trait. The women in the industry are those who entered and remained despite of the atmosphere. Some ignored it, some adapted to it, some even encouraged it. But all of them have had their reasons to continue working in the field. And due to the otherwise repelling selection bias, they are generally way above the mean as far as skills and competence go.[+] As much as dread to quote from Ender's Game, I think Card nailed it: "Your only option is to be so good that nobody can ignore you." Our engineering is currently 30-odd strong, and we are lucky to have attracted six women so far. We must be doing something (or likely many somethings) right. +: Of the 5 best systems engineers I have met over the past ~20 years, two have been women. They hold the spots #1 and #3, respectively. EDIT: turned footnote-asterisk into a plus sign to prevent unintentional italics.