notSoRandom27

> But there are fewer women in software now than there were 30 years ago. Are women today "wired differently" from their mothers?

But are they really ?, do you have any data/reference to back it up, I was under the assumption that there are more people, both men and women, working as programmers, than 30 years ago.

> that STEM has become more prestigious, which draws men, which forces out women.

Is it competition that is forcing women out, or men ?

> as the prestige of formerly female-dominated careers rises, they become more attractive to men, to the point where men dominate them

What do you mean by dominated, is it the number of people, or is it something else ?

Are you trying to say that once a career path becomes female dominated, men should stay out ?

Not the parent, but in my current company it definitely helps to be a women, more referral bonus for referring a diversity candidate (post joining), performance targets for managers related to hiring and promoting diversity candidates.

Please note there is no active discrimination against men, but preference in some cases would be to hire a women. Gender is the only criteria for diversity in here.