The problem is distinguishing the two. People (and not just women) feel understandably cross when they come across real obstacles - which may seem very subtle to others - preventing them from choosing a path, and then hear someone else say it's just a result of preferences.
If women in a 'perfectly equal opportunity' environment, very rarely 'choose' to participate in some fields ... then those fields will probably develop social and institutional dynamics that make it more difficult.
The Canadian Navy did a study in the 1990's that showed if there were only a small number of women on a deployed ship, that they had a hard time, but once there was a critical mass (I think like 8% of the ships crew) - then things were easier.
So at very low levels of participation of one group, things can get weird.
The Army is obviously an extreme version of this, particularly the Combat Arms, but some other entities might be this way.
In particular, startup culture might have this problem - there is literally not enough women (at least apparently) today to form a strong critical mass in the culture and so I do think it's harder for them.
Of course I'm not implying that there is necessarily 'equal opportunity today in startups, but even if that were the case, there'd be problems.
You see a lot of 'clumping' for example: startups led by women have a lot more women working at them, and tend to be focused in slightly different areas.
It's why orgs which traditionally have 'almost none' of some groups might have to change a little to accomodate the first few.
Literally today in the National Post (Canada) there's an article about the first male midwife in Quebec and the kinds of issues he faces etc..
Could be as I have read reports from men in predominantly female fields (as child care services, nursing, etc.) having a feeling of being outsiders and not really included in the workspace. I don't think we have enough data to imply that though.
We do in fact have data about issues with male nurses iirc. It’s a whole social program to get more male nurses, to be respected as female nurses, to be allowed to perform nurse duties to vulnerable demographics such as children and be viewed as similarly safe as a female nurse doing the same.
Indeed. It is not easy to always distinguish what is due to obstacle and what is due to preference.
However if we say that any difference from equal representation is due to obstacle then in reality we will introduce new obstacles in order to get a end result that is different from preferences.
There is no silver bullet here. The obstacles must be found and torn down individually. Making obstacles elsewhere will just make things worse for everyone involved.
>>It is not easy to always distinguish what is due to obstacle and what is due to preference.
That's because even without the role of society, a person's preferences are made out of mental outlook they have developed over time. What one person finds to be impossible, the other person might find it to be perfectly easy to do. There is nothing you do to fix that. That largely depends on personal enterprise and what the person wants to do in life.
I have seen people throw away perfectly fine opportunities while in position of advantage. I have also seen people run though opportunity famine, move mountains and earth all to create a small opening some where.
Ultimately its just on the person. And most importantly You can't fix people against their will.
