Surprise, surprise — the only female-indicating handle in this discussion is getting downvoted into oblivion. One reason boards stay demographically skewed is

Surprise, surprise — the only female-indicating handle in this discussion is getting downvoted into oblivion. One reason boards stay demographically skewed is because everybody on them vehemently opposes taking concrete action to address said demographic skew. Members of underrepresented minorities tend to favor active steps, disqualifying them as candidates from the perspective of the status quo. A similar effect preserves the demographic skew of Hacker News. HN is overwhelmingly male dominated, and thus disproportionately unreceptive to views typically held by women and not typically held by men. That disagreement gets expressed through downvoting, which is ultimately indistinguishable from animus even if the intent was benign. And thus people who hold views common among women, finding this forum unfriendly, go elsewhere.