This topic fascinates me and I even had a thread about this a while ago when another study on this topic appeared.
When I studied math and computer science in the late 70’s I was in the minority as a woman. However, there were several women in the company where I worked who were above me and could serve as role models. I was successful and did not feel that the culture was negative towards women at that time.
Things definitely shifted, as the article states and I think the article is correct in saying lots of it is cultural. Horrible sexism in the high tech companies, which is not only allowed but encouraged. In what other industry could managers get away with only hiring those who are “like” them (as is discussed in the article). Why would an intelligent woman want to subject herself to this type of behavior when another pursuit would welcome her and her skills?
My daughter, a recent college grad with a Math degree, was in a smaller minority than I was. Many tough Math classes started out pretty even but ended up overwhelmingly male (so many women dropped the class). She had only one female Math teacher in her entire college career (so no female role models). She currently has a quantitative job (not coding), and is again in the minority. However, her company’s culture is fair and women are welcome and respected.
She had an internship in a tech company where she clearly saw that her boss as a woman was treated disrespectfully. Nothing her boss said was taken seriously by the male engineers in the room. It was obvious, blatant, and an accepted part of the company culture. She knew that she wouldn’t ever want to work in that type of environment and sought something different when she graduated.
I think the college programs are a good start, as are the initiatives for younger girls (“girls code programs”), but the industry will need a huge shake up from the top down to make any significant changes. Tech companies need to stop being run by the “boys only” nerd club.