”Matthew” who is linkless, comments in Ted’s post and I find this notable:

It’s a simple fact, there are fewer assertive female programmers than men. If you don’t like it change 30,000 years of human biology. Change the fact that men are more likely to be sexual predators. All these factors figure into the likelihood of a woman getting up and getting noticed and becoming an MVP

Definitely part of it…

Also, Avonelle makes a very important point (in the comments of the same post) that she and I have discussed before:

As a woman who has attended conferences with thousands of people where most of the participants are men, I can tell you that this has never bothered me one bit. I don’t feel like I have to work harder to close the gap. Well, let me restate that. I work hard. When I attend a conference – I’m not worried about competing with the men. If there is any feeling of competition, it is with other developers – their gender is not really an issue to me.

Her take on this is very different than mine, but equally important – though I agree with Avonelle in that I don’t feel that I am competing with anyone – men, developers or other women. I have met a number of women who are also wondering “so what’s your point? It’s just the way it is.“

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