> Now two new studies by economists and social scientists have reached a perhaps startling conclusion: An important part of the explanation for the gender gap,

> Now two new studies by economists and social scientists have reached a perhaps startling conclusion: An important part of the explanation for the gender gap, they are finding, are the preferences of women themselves. When it comes to certain math- and science-related jobs, substantial numbers of women - highly qualified for the work - stay out of those careers because they would simply rather do something else. Am I the only one not startled by this? My reasoning was as follows... I can think of a ton of jobs that are traditionally dominated by females (elementary school teacher, housekeepers, talk-show hosts) that I happen to not want to do. It has nothing to do with me being male or some perceived descrimination against me by the females in the field. I just don't have any interest in being those things. I would assume the same thing holds true for a female and some professions that just happen to be historically dominated by males. I mean, some of the disparity probably is because of gender-based slight, but it seems rational to expect that some jobs just aren't interesting enough to attract people in droves of equal and politically correct gender ratios. > The United States, Norway, Switzerland, Canada, and the United Kingdom, which offer women the most financial stability and legal protections in job choice, have the greatest gender split in careers. In countries with less economic opportunity, like the Philippines, Thailand, and Russia, she writes, the number of women in physics is as high as 30 to 35 percent, versus 5 percent in Canada, Japan, and Germany. My guess is this is because they have the option to choose careers, rather than being forced to accept whatever pays well and is safe. > Benbow and Lubinski, at Vanderbilt, found that high-achieving women often pick their careers based on the idea that they'll eventually take time off, and thus avoid fields in which that absence will exact a larger penalty. In humanities or philosophy, for instance, taking a year or two off won't affect one's skill set very much. But in quickly evolving technical fields, a similar sabbatical can be a huge career setback. I have seen this in talking with my girlfriend about her career goals. She is a chemical engineer, and often fears that taking time off to raise kids will doom her career.