[dzink]

Most of your research is from 20 years ago. Cultural norms play a huge part in this and norms have been changing (compare what you'd read about the roles of women in the 1950's vs today).

My mother built one business after another even though my grandfather was forcing her to be a math teacher. She started 4+ businesses and each one carried the name of a guy in my family (even my brother, as soon as he turned 18) because businesses weren't supposed to be led by women.

I am female. At 8 I was hit on as the only girl hanging out in a robotics lab. At 13 I was mocked for writing code. At 15 I was asked to quit school to work at a tech firm, but instead I kept working on my own freelance business in parallel. At 18 I ranked second among peers in my country. I moved to the US, kept working, and continue to grow my skills and tech startup in the valley today. There are many more like me. Wait 10 more years and see what happens to the statistics and attitudes. In the mean time, my job is to keep proving those that bet against me and other female hacker-founders wrong through the product of my work.

[tekalon]

While I agree that a lot of it is cultural based, I do agree that there is some biological basis also. As a woman also, I can see myself in the points the author makes. While I had good grades (was in high school math club) I avoided risks in school and in career (went for 'easy' degree of history first). Only recently did I go back and get a degree in programming, requiring me having to learn differently than before. I tell my boss I don't a managerial position because I don't want the responsibility (no matter how much he throws it at me). I've also had everyone around me supporting me to do what I want be it STEM or not. In many ways I see the cultural changes are allowing women to use their biological strengths better (running a business isn't too different from running a household of a large family). EDIT:typo.

[dzink]

Culturally, do you see the same demands placed on you as are placed on a male peer/brother of yours? I bet when you start seeing those you will start seeing similar behavior (because I have seen it).