Girls just want to … do anything besides code

The first myth is that women are absent from STEM fields. In fact, many regions of the STEM universe are increasingly dominated by women. Ladies earn more than 60% of bachelor’s degrees in the health professions, psychology, and biology — and that’s been true for nearly 50 years.

Where women are underrepresented is in engineering and computer science careers. The feminist Left and the politically correct attribute this to outright gender discrimination in those fields or at least a hostile environment that drives women away.

But what if it all comes down to individual preference? Could it be that women tend to gravitate toward and choose jobs that better fit their needs, wants, and strengths and that in general, those jobs don’t include engineering and computer programming?

A new study by the American Enterprise Institute suggests that this is indeed the case. Since 1971, the number of engineering bachelor’s degrees earned by women has gradually increased from 0% to just over 20%, according to data provided by the Education Department. Computer science degrees earned by women, on the other hand, have decreased dramatically, falling from 35% in the 1980s to 20% as of last year.

So why do women make up only 20% of these particular STEM fields, while they’re a majority of others? Colleges and universities, after all, have dedicated entire programs to increasing female participation in science. Corporate America and advocacy groups have spent truckloads trying to recruit and train female engineers and computer scientists. But to no avail.

Perhaps it’s not that STEM workplaces are too masculine. Maybe it’s pretty simple: Women and men naturally have different preferences, and women generally prefer not to code or do engineering. That’s not a popular answer, but if you look at the numbers, it adds up.