[wfleming]

That article goes over some problems with the initial study, and some issues replicating (although the follow up study did find a similar effect). Hardly seems like a slam dunk, though, and given those issues it seems the effect is likely weak if it does exist.

More broadly, I question how effectively "endogenous interest" can be accurately measured without risking a lot of confounding factors from the broader society. I didn't read the original paper, maybe they tried to account for that, but I can't really see how you reliably could. People's interests don't exist in a vacuum, they're tangled up in their upbringing and society. If they'd done a similar study a century ago they might have found women having a high endogenous interest in being homemakers.

[beaconstudios]

I don't think you could separate them at all because things like gender roles are down wind from sex roles and societal upbringing and nobody is brought up outside of social conditions to act as a control.

The important question is whether passionate people are being kept out of industry en masse. My gut says it probably happens on an individual basis but I don't see why it would happen systematically.