I'm pretty sure the answer to this is a complex mix of social pressures and shifting priorities. Priorities shift because teenagers (both boys and girls) engag

I'm pretty sure the answer to this is a complex mix of social pressures and shifting priorities. Priorities shift because teenagers (both boys and girls) engage in activities that younger kids don't: self-organized socialization, especially dating. To spend time on these things, they have to give up time somewhere else. I don't think we can fight this, but we might be able to redirect it a little (give up that instead of this) or possibly even usurp it by providing an alternative to "the mall" as the place to hang out and BS. Social pressures can be changed, but it's incredibly hard. It might be easier to instead work around them. Girls don't want to be seen engaging in STEM pursuits? Sure, the ideal answer would be to change teenage culture so that this social pressure is reversed. Good luck with that. It would probably be easier and more effective to instead proivde a way for teenage girls who want to continue to pursue their interest in STEM to do so without compromising their carefully curated social personas.