My friend (also in bio/ochem) frequently says she's going to get into programming, and I frequently respond with encouragement, because it's a great skillset to

My friend (also in bio/ochem) frequently says she's going to get into programming, and I frequently respond with encouragement, because it's a great skillset to have even if she stays in biology. I get her started with something, make sure she's motivated to approach the practice problems or personal project, but ultimately she just doesn't want to. She's smart and logical and all that, but I don't think that's the determining factor, and whatever that factor is, she doesn't have it. I think there are also probably two camps of people, even among people who go into software: those who never needed to be encouraged or asked to do it, and those who eventually started because of some outside pressure or incentive. A company I worked for actively seeks out and trains women for web development work for free in an effort to prop up their female numbers. They bring more than the total number of employees at the company through that program in a given year. Even with this intensely focused pipeline, they still can't keep up pace with the qualified men who arrive through normal hiring routes. It's even a bit unfair, I was hired at that company rapidly with no official credentials (granted earlier on), just an interview/demonstration; whereas apparently if I were a woman, I could still be hired even if I wouldn't qualify when I walked in, and I'd at least walk out with professional training. The men there trained and represented themselves, or paid for an education. I feel like at some point you have to stop wishing something is within your control. I don't think you can construct a fair world where women freely choose to be software developers at the same rate as men. A workplace has no obligation to be equally attractive to every working age person, I don't think they have an obligation to be attractive to exact proportions of men and women in gen pop.