Part of the problem is that people are more likely to embark on careers based on the cultural imagery than on academic interest - if you have no prior knowledge

Part of the problem is that people are more likely to embark on careers based on the cultural imagery than on academic interest - if you have no prior knowledge of the academics behind any given subject, intrinsic attraction will not magically present itself, so decisions to seriously study any subject have to use other factors(pay, lifestyle, etc.) and the stereotyping plays into that. Hence, it is the interest of society to: * Properly introduce computer science(and other modern subjects) into school curricula, so that intrinsic factors can become apparent * Have our artistic works give positive, progressive depictions of real people doing real work; this will push students towards more intrinsic factors. * Continue developing accessible introductory material; the study process most programmers used to learn(bang your head against the wall for hours until you get it) is overly unsteady and hesitant, with most of the important conceptual imagery locked deep within dry, reference-heavy descriptions of algorithms and data structures. This hurts our talent pool. Accessible computer science - not "dumbed down", but better-taught - would automatically push the demographics towards gender balance.