Originally Posted by Bostonian
Lots of my female relatives have become doctors, nurses, and pharmaceutical researchers, but none have become physicists, chemists, engineers, computer programmers, or mathematicians, as several of the males have. My daughter wants to be a doctor, like her mom, and I would not be surprised if she did. If women's inclinations and aptitudes lead them to health care rather than STEM (although biology is a science), what is the problem? The choices are not writing C code or working at McDonald's.

In my mind, the problem is that: 1) the fields themselves would benefit from greater diversity and 2) that there are kids missing out on rewarding and lucrative careers because those careers seem (or are!) unwelcoming.

Also, I think kids often reject certain professions without really knowing what they are. Doctors, for example, are in a profession most kids encounter directly. Engineers and physicists -- much less likely.

(And, selfishly, as a woman who has spent decades in an engineering profession with extremely low representation of women, I'd like more female colleagues…)