Tptacek, you're the one that seems hung up on the whole STEM aspect. Let's leave aside the fact that STEM is just an arbitrary grouping of fields that happens t

Tptacek, you're the one that seems hung up on the whole STEM aspect. Let's leave aside the fact that STEM is just an arbitrary grouping of fields that happens to include both doing research to find cures for cancers and hooking up database rows to HTML forms. Your logic seems to be: 1. Women are well-represented in many STEM fields other than CS or software development. 2. These other fields often involve use of computers and software development. 3. Therefore, it logically follows that they SHOULD also be well-represented in CS and software development. 4. Since they're not, it's "obvious" that "the field is hostile to them." I think that's ridiculous. Women, as a group, can, and do, pursue just about any career of their choosing in the US. For years, efforts have been made to lure them into STEM fields, including CS/dev, in greater numbers. For all of the pontificating from feminists, I have yet to encounter a single documented example of a qualified woman who is banging on a closed door demanding to be let into the profession, that is being denied entry. That woman, like Santa Clause, is mythical. She doesn't exist. Of course, I can't prove she doesn't exist any more than I can prove that Santa Clause doesn't exit. But neither of them exists. Her existence can be proven by a single example. But for all of the years of male-blaming in regard to this issue, no one has yet provided such an example.