I don't see the relevance between "wolves and sheep" and the rest of your argument. The point is not that we need to pressure women into CS, or market it to the

I don't see the relevance between "wolves and sheep" and the rest of your argument. The point is not that we need to pressure women into CS, or market it to them in a glitzy fashion; instead, we simply need to make CS as comfortable an environment for women as it is for men, so that women who have the talent to succeed in CS choose to study it more often. In other words, we're missing out on a great deal of talent that CS could benefit from, and we want to try to bring that talent into the fold! Measuring the number of women in computer science, as compared to their proportion in the overall population, is just a proxy for our success in this task; assuming that men and women have aptitude for CS at equal rates, we expect them to be equally represented in the discipline, so when they aren't it suggests that other factors are keeping female talent out of CS and we want to fix that problem. I don't pretend to know every reason for the gender imbalance in CS, but I can suggest a couple of factors that likely contribute. One is cultural stereotypes about the type of person who would get a CS degree. The stereotypical CS person in the US (and in the UK as well, if the BBC's TV shows are any guide) is an introverted, socially awkward, physically weak male. This stereotype is pervasive enough in our culture to harm many peoples' interest in computers from a young age; it likely keeps both men and women out of CS, but I suspect it has a disproportionate effect on young women due to the particular social pressures they face. Working to eliminate this stereotype would help everyone involved and bring more talent into CS. The other factor is that CS can be a bit of a boy's club at times. I've seen some of my CS professors make comments that frankly shocked me about things like the role of women in the workplace. There's no excuse for this attitude; it can do nothing but push talented people out of our field, and anyone involved in academia should show no tolerance for this kind of behavior. Frankly, I think this discussion of "wolves and sheep" is nothing but an excuse to sweep very real cultural problems, both in the general US population and in academic institutions, under the rug.