[metabagel]

I think the idea is that, early on, men tended to be more interested in the electronics aspect of computers, and the job of programming itself was considered to be in general less interesting to men and more suitable for women.

[lizmat]

In the late 80's I had to give a 3-week programming workshop to a group of 8 people in Bombay, India (now Mumbai). The group consisted of 7 women and one man. I was not used to such a demographic in a teaching group. So I asked: "Why are there so many women in this class". They looked at me with amazement: "Well, that's obvious. For programming you have to be able to use your brain!"