We don't really know that at all. Technical interviews are an invaluable tool in finding people who can write software and be collaborative co-workers.
A lot of software developers on the receiving end don't like them. Part of that is because a good technical interview pushes you out of your comfort zone and forces you to show that you can think through problems. Not all developers appreciate being taken out of their comfort zone.
The other part of the problem is that some technical interviews are conducted clumsily. "Code FizzBuzz, go!" As with the rest of the interview, skill of the interviewer matters.
I had a guy freak out walking through a simple algorithm in java at the white board in an interview. Maybe he was the best developer ever if he were put in a quiet dark room and never made eye contact with anyone. Given that we had other candidates who could actually interact calmly and intelligently in an interview/collaborative situation, we weren't going to go with the guy that freaked out.
I'd like to see the people behind this project apply their technical skills to something more useful to the industry and the society in general.
>> to get to pipeline parity, we actually have to increase the number of women studying computer science by an entire order of magnitude
Any woman who's gone through that process will likely want to get another career, that where people are treated with more respect. And I suppose many men are having the exact same thoughts.
The more you mock your talent pool, the more actively that talent is running in the opposite direction, just to get out of this mess.