[rimliu]

  > The penchant for math is probably randomly distributed
  between men and women.

Source?

  > But all that is overshadowed by the fact that culturally and
  > societally women are heavily discouraged from entering and succeeding
  > in fields like math.

Source?

  > This begins right from childhood, where an abacus may make a good toy for a boy, 
  > while the appropriate toy for a girl would be a mini kitchen set.

This is often repeated, but I doubt that's true.

[Chris2048]

> Source?

You mis-quoted; the original comment said:

> If you accept the idea that a penchant..

which was a response to:

> why is it shocking?

i.e. It answers the question, "Why might [someone] find this shocking?" - Note that user 'Hasz' was not the user that found it shocking.