I've been working in software development most of my career and I fully support our industry being as inclusive as it can be. This includes making software development inviting to women. My chief mentor through all of my career is a woman and I am so grateful for her guidance. Thank you for writing this. I am going to give my opinion on what you wrote, some of which I agree with, some of which I don't. I first wanted you to know that I respect your opinion and I'm glad you wrote this.

1. Role models - I agree with what you wrote. I would like to add that women can have men as role models, it's just not as compelling.

2. It's more challenging for women - I agree with what you wrote. I would like to add that I think programming may actually be a better fit for women. Remote work makes work/life balance so much easier.

3. It's easier to be a manager than a programmer for women - I think I understand what you are trying to say, but I think your perspective it's misguided.

First of all, women are not essentially better at being social. It's the same as saying that men are better at problem solving. It's gender essentialism. This kind of thinking contributes to the lack of women engineers. It's an easy trap to fall into, but it's faulty thinking.

4. Working on personal projects - Agreed.

5. Women programmers have to prove their quality more - Agreed. But this is changing.

6. Different motiviation than programmers who are men - Total BS (sorry). You're making assumptions about men and women based on stereotypes. There are men that are developers that don't geek out on every detail and there are women that do. This kind of thinking is why #5 is a problem. We assume men are more passionate about technology, and this gives them more unearned trust compared to women.

7. Surroundings - Agreed, but this is getting better.