Here's an article from the NY Times that goes into this in some detail, although there appears to be no single compelling explanation: http://www.nytimes.com/2

Here's an article from the NY Times that goes into this in some detail, although there appears to be no single compelling explanation: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/16/business/16digi.html http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/16/business/16digi.html One thing that the article notes is that women have achieved parity in other technical fields: "When all science and engineering fields are considered, the percentage of bachelor’s degree recipients who are women has improved to 51 percent in 2004-5 from 39 percent in 1984-85, according to National Science Foundation surveys." I find it rather hard to believe that software professionals are especially sexist compared to those in other engineering fields, thus I tend to think that other factors -- a reputation for grueling work hours, the "nerd factor", perceived drop in availability of jobs due to outsourcing, etc... -- are driving women away.