[JohnBooty]

  I would think it's controversial when applied to
  engineering. This implies that the basic tools of 
  software development are somehow viewed/used 
  differently by people of various genders/ethnicities/etc

We're probably operating with different definitions of "software engineering."

I understand software engineering to encompass much more than just using "the basic tools of software development." Within that scope, you're definitely right: I don't think one gender can use Eclipse (or vim, or whatever) better.

I'm thinking of a broader definition of software engineering that involves understanding problems and choosing from many viable solutions, each with their own trade-offs in terms of implementation difficulty and end-user experience. There are a lot of people who feel that process, and our industry as a whole, would benefit from having a greater variety of perspectives.

  the author seems to think "cognitive diversity" can be achieved
  simply by adding women to your dev team.

It can be a step towards it.