[deathanatos]

Say you ask about the ratio, in an interview. I would tell you, but, like most companies I've worked at, I doubt the answer would impress you. What do you do with the information? If you base your decision on it, and I presume pass over the company for having a poor ratio, how is that company ever supposed to change?

[geekster777]

I've thought often about this, but fundamentally no woman should feel obligated to fix this issue at a prospective company. You should be prioritizing yourself, your career, and your comfort. It's hard to ask someone to take on the uphill battle when there are so many other teams or companies that are safer bets.

Let's compare to something analogous like recruiting an executive or manager to take on to a dysfunctional org/team. We don't ask "well if the good managers don't join, how will it ever get better?". We create incentives to get these better people to join (or let the ship sink). But we intrinsically look at it as a burden worth compensating, and I'd expect companies with this level of bad PR to look at doing the same.

[freewizard]

I would assume it's not only about the answer, but also/more about how an interviewer answers it.

[madbitch]

This is definitely part of it. If I get the impression that at least it's something the company cares about and is working on, that helps.

But also, as you mention, many companies have disappointing gender ratios, so it's not like I'd pass on a company purely because of that. It's more like another data point to consider. And conversely, if a company does have a higher portion of female engineers, that will weigh strongly in its favor.