[StargazyPi]

Can you pick out any problems in particular pointed out in this article, that are more frequently picked up on by women?

Most of the common ones seem to be a company or manager's words not matching their actions. The sample sizes I've experienced may be fairly small so far (very few female colleagues, as ever), but I've seen men and women leave in equal measure for that type of transgression.

[Zikes]

I don't know of any studies, anecdotes aren't data, and I don't know of any particular issues listed in the article that might affect women more than men.

The only point I'm trying to make is the obvious one: men and women are different. It's a stupid point, taken at face value, but it's one that seems to get lost every time someone says "but men face those same issues" or "that doesn't seem like a gendered issue to me".

[StargazyPi]

Yeah, I agree that on aggregate, men and women have subtly different tendencies.

The reason I bring it up though, is that I don't see or experience any particular​ bias around most of the the issues in the article. Most of the points raised really don't seem like gendered issues.

[Zikes]

We need to find a way to figure out which of those differences are important, then. YC seems to be trying via this Ask a Female Engineer series, but if we ask those female engineers which issues are most important to them in regards to what would drive them away and the answers they give aren't satisfactory, then what conclusions can be drawn?

If the issues listed are largely the same issues faced by men, and if the issues have an equivalent impact on male engineer retention, then the answers are incomplete or we're asking the wrong women. Maybe we should ask female former engineers why they left the industry?