The serious explanations I've seen focus on interest more than talent. Women just aren't that interested in programming computers, even when they have the talent (on average, with many individual exceptions).
Programming can be social, though it often isn't. But the basic job is changing machines. While in law the task is to affect people.
In my "things you can't say" speculation, I think the socially awkward guys on the spectrum who dominate the profession are not very attractive for women to be around. Being the only woman in a room full of men can be quite different depending on what kind of men.
> Programming can be social, though it often isn't. But the basic job is changing machines. While in law the task is to affect people.
You're looking at the two professions at two different levels. Changing machines is what the programmer does, but the end result is people communicating with each other. The end result of legal work is affecting people, but the actual job is down in the weeds of comma jockeying. Especially on the transactional side. There is nothing people oriented at any level about implementing obscure credit structures dreamed up by some finance nerd. But there is no shortage of women willing to do that work.
> I think the socially awkward guys on the spectrum who dominate the profession are not very attractive for women to be around.
That is not consistent with what I've heard from talking a lot of professional women. Women in finance aren't talking about how great the 85-15 ratio is just because Goldman hires a lot of frat guys.
I agree here. Over the holidays I was speaking with a sister of mine, she recently finished her undergrad degree and moved from working in a salon (all women) to working in an office environment with a very strong sales culture (~90% men).
She made the observation that she enjoyed working in a male-dominated work place more so than the female-dominated work place and gave several reasons relating to social dynamics.
Programming can be social, though it often isn't. But the basic job is changing machines. While in law the task is to affect people.
In my "things you can't say" speculation, I think the socially awkward guys on the spectrum who dominate the profession are not very attractive for women to be around. Being the only woman in a room full of men can be quite different depending on what kind of men.