the total population of women entering such programs is not any smarter on average
Sorry, I was unclear. I meant that the total worldwide population of women is no smarter on average than the worldwide population of men. The evidence points to the subset of women who enter CS and engineering being smarter on average than the subset of men who enter CS and engineering.
It's equally possible that women of average or median intelligence deicde they're unlikely to succeed in that field and drop out, leaving only the best female students.
From everything I've seen it's less a matter of dropping out and more a matter of not entering those programs in the first place; but yes, there are societal influences which result in "marginal" men entering those fields while "marginal" women do not.
The evidence points to the subset of women who enter CS and engineering being smarter on average than the subset of men who enter CS and engineering.
Isn't this rather at odds with your hypothesis that they do well because of being more aggressive? I mean, perhaps that is true but if the data suggests that women entering those programs are in fact smarter why would your hypothesis be any more likely than the existence of bias in HR departments?
> sn't this rather at odds with your hypothesis that they do well because of being more aggressive?
I don't think that's what he said originally. He said that aggressive women are those who overcome the social pressure to not join a male dominated field like CS/tech.
To give an extreme example, you can be a timid man and still join CS simply because there's no pressure against you doing so, but if you were a timid woman you wouldn't be able to overcome the poor atmosphere women in STS face.
Sorry, I was unclear. I meant that the total worldwide population of women is no smarter on average than the worldwide population of men. The evidence points to the subset of women who enter CS and engineering being smarter on average than the subset of men who enter CS and engineering.
It's equally possible that women of average or median intelligence deicde they're unlikely to succeed in that field and drop out, leaving only the best female students.
From everything I've seen it's less a matter of dropping out and more a matter of not entering those programs in the first place; but yes, there are societal influences which result in "marginal" men entering those fields while "marginal" women do not.