Also, STEM degrees tend to favor workaholics and those who don't have or want a social life. Academia does as well. This causes a problem for girls because most want to have children and this thought does tend to crop up around puberty. Hard to ignore. So there's the potential of huge sacrifices for girls who go down the workaholic STEM route. And not to mention the part about the nerds and dorks in STEM who may not be viewed seriously as marital material.
I can't compare to other fields and I have (and do) work with some workaholic dorks with no social lives. There are also some companies that are worse than others.
However, in the interest of those with kids (especially daughters) that are looking at STEM careers I thought I'd present the flip side to the coin. Having rare or sought after skills has allowed me (and DH as well) to have amazing flexibility and opportunities. We both worked like crazy before kids (and loved it) but since having our second kid I've been working a 24 hour work week. Four of the guys I work with have also gone part time (and two of them don't even have kids - they just wanted more play time). DH took 3 months paternity leave with each kid and is home for dinner every night. We can work at home and both have flexible hours that allow us to attend school functions. I can't think of a better work/life balance for us.
In University there were a lot of nerds and dorks but when there is a 10:1 ratio it still leaves room for quite a few "normal" guys in the mix. The geek ratio is just as high on the girl side so it also makes for less competition
