[galoisgirl]

I'm not denying the gender equality paradox, that in societies where women have the choice, they chose STEM less often.

I'm not denying a genetic factor either, because I can't disprove it.

What I'm arguing against is this "tabula rasa" at age 18. Women grow up with less female role models in STEM. A Barbie doll used to say "math is hard", which speaks volumes to how prevalent this message is. Sure, 18yo haven't seen the workplace yet, but they've seen how women are treated, how higher the bar is for them, how more criticism they get when they take a risk and fail, how often they'd be the only woman in the room... Going into STEM for a boy is being safe in a group of similar peers, going into STEM for a girl is harder, because all your life, you have to prove you're good despite being a girl, and because it's lonely.

My personal view is that both genetics and society matter here. I don't have a problem with genetics, but I do have one with society.

[hnracer]

I think we are mostly in agreement. I agree that there are societal factors as well and that these are not good and we should work to address them.