Overgeneralize much?
Did you know that women, on average, do BETTER in Calculus than men? I guess it is a good thing for them that there is none of that hard abstract stuff in math!
This is mainly because in the 70s all the curriculums and teaching strategies were rewritten to emphasize feminine learning styles.
When was the last time you saw a teacher in a classroom use the socratic method? That's a male learning strategy that is no longer used because women find it confrontational and competitive.
Male learning styles tend to emphasize contest, competition, oppositional debate, and criticism while female styles emphasize co-operation, discussion without criticism, observational learning, and role modeling.
The schools from kindergarten up have shifted almost completely to female learning styles.
Is it surprising that women make up 60%+ of university students and almost always have higher marks?
The special clubs and programs and self-esteem boosting women get from the media and so on helps too I'm sure. When was the last time a Dove commercial told some nerdy guy that he is beautiful the way he is? :p
And it is getting away from the main point. Which is the claim that women are bad at abstraction, versus my concrete evidence that they are capable of it.
If you need another data point, back when I was in grad school something like 40% of graduate students in math were women. From my experience, they weren't the bottom 40%. And were quite capable at abstraction.
I truly don't believe that women aren't in CS because it is too hard for their pretty little heads. OK, sure, most women wouldn't succeed in CS for that reason. But the same is true of most men.
2) Women are not bad at abstractions. They are just not interested in dealing with abstractions as much as men do. That explains why there are so few women in software development.
My personal experience of women who choose to go on in advanced mathematics (of which there are almost as many as there are men) is strongly at odds with your claim #2.
I never mentioned abstractions because I think that is irrelevant.
You literally clicked "reply" to me and then did not respond to a single point I made.
One point to also consider, which I consider fundamental to any entrepreneur, be it tech or otherwise is the concept of "challenge". I think regardless of sex, if you really are challenged in an area, and feel like you can beat someone, or a company at their game, you will succeed.
More specifically, guys are challenged at a younger age, be it in athletics, video games, neighborhood ball, or your friends telling you, you're a wimp if you don't do this.
As simple as this sounds, guys thrive on challenges, we play video games for the challenge, and girls alot of times don't get that same oppportunity to be encouraged or challenged at a young age. Because this shapes the competitive drive and spirit of entrepreneurship. Sp, what I would say to the women entrepreneur question. Challenge, challenge, challenge. Doesn't matter when you start, embrace a good challenge.
Almost every movie these days will have a woman who is competitive. In action movies she will be a 100 pound waif who is capable of knocking out 250lb men with a few kicks. Or in less action oriented movies she'll be a super genius who shows up the boys with her brilliant deductions and knowledge. Look at Hermione - the nerdy, highly competitive role-models for millions of little girls. Girls idolize her but they typically do not take on her hyper-competitive nature because there is no need and a competitive mindset is usually caused by androgens more than anything.
Little girls are fed competitive female role-models constantly and are encouraged to be competitive. They are enrolled in soccer at a young age and encouraged to join leadership contests and writing contests and so on by schools, parents, and governments alike.
It's just completely not true that girls are not encouraged to be competitive. They are, to an extreme degree. The simple fact is that most girls quickly learn that it's a lot easier to get what they want by being beautiful, girly, and socially savvy than it is to spend hours hacking code.
As a 14 year old male nerd, if your computer is broken, you have no choice but to figure out how to fix it so you can play Quake or whatever. A 14 year old girl on the other hand learns that the easiest way to fix her computer is to get the nerdy guy to fix it for her. This is just simple economics.
Women who get into tech usually were raised by a parent who taught them to love technology/science for it's own sake. It takes an exceptional kind of parent to raise this kind of child though. Most kids don't have this - male or female.
2) "Try harder" attitude is not necessarily better than "Avoid potential confrontation" attitude. But the difference might explain why there are so few females in software development.
3) There are other reasons behind gender ratio in software field. For example, software development requires more abstract thinking which on average is easier for males. Females focus more on more practical things and care a little bit less about abstract stuff.
4) All of the reasoning above is about comparing averages. Individual female might outperform average male in abstract thinking and "try it harder" attitude.