> Judging by the stats for how many men you find in early childhood education versus women, it's clear that society as a whole still shuttles women in that direction by some mechanism and men in another direction.
Or perhaps, women, in average, have a higher natural predisposition to take care of young children than men.
That would not be a surprise, since women get pregnant and, as far as I know, generally took care of children while men went out to hunt and fight.
Of course, nobody should be pressured to choose a profession based on a stereotype.
In contrast, early programmers were mostly women and it is now a male dominated field. There is a lot of research and we are quite confident that trends of this sort in various fields are driven by societal factors, and never mind how much people of a particular era try to come up with various justifications for how one gender is supposedly innately more predisposed to X for some reason.
I wonder if maternal instincts might factor in here too. There was a hacker news article not too long ago about "Despite social pressure, boys and girls still prefer gender-typical toys"
Or perhaps, women, in average, have a higher natural predisposition to take care of young children than men.
That would not be a surprise, since women get pregnant and, as far as I know, generally took care of children while men went out to hunt and fight.
Of course, nobody should be pressured to choose a profession based on a stereotype.