>"Lets concentrate purely on gender imbalanced groups. Any gathering of humans where the sexes are not proximately 50/50 or 60/40 but 90/10 or even more extreme.
>I think we can all agree that this is neither natural nor healthy."
I agree with your main point, but not this one. There are clear differences in personality distribution between the sexes, either due to biology or culture, that can effect their relative desire to participate in various activities. A few activities will have gender ratio imbalances, and that's not necessarily unnatural or unhealthy. Men have been doing the lion's share of hunting and war since time immemorial.
The problem is that CS doesn't obviously have to be one of those activities. It seems to maintain its gender imbalance more through inertia than necessity, as you said. While other sciences also have gender imbalances, they tend to be much less extreme, and I think it possible that CS can move in that direction.
>I think we can all agree that this is neither natural nor healthy."
I agree with your main point, but not this one. There are clear differences in personality distribution between the sexes, either due to biology or culture, that can effect their relative desire to participate in various activities. A few activities will have gender ratio imbalances, and that's not necessarily unnatural or unhealthy. Men have been doing the lion's share of hunting and war since time immemorial.
The problem is that CS doesn't obviously have to be one of those activities. It seems to maintain its gender imbalance more through inertia than necessity, as you said. While other sciences also have gender imbalances, they tend to be much less extreme, and I think it possible that CS can move in that direction.