“Oh dear. This is another proof that being an engineer does not make one good at statistics or science in general.”

I have studied and excelled at math and science throughout my life, attended a magnet high school for science and technology, have a degree in applied mathematics, and my higher education course of study included several areas of statistics…but okay! Thanks for the smug condescension!

You also missed the point.

Looking at PET scans doesn’t tell us anything about nature vs. nurture. Those differences cannot inherently be attributed to biological sex. The OP made the claim that evidence from PET scans shows, “The girls are not drawn to the same pursuits the boys are, no matter how hard you try to bring them up with gender equality.” This conclusion is a huge reach on her part. Because the original author did not cite her source, I can’t tell whether there was any attempt to control for the fact that girls grow up in a society that tells them they should be interested in different things than boys, but I highly doubt it — and I can’t imagine how that would even be possible.

There have even been studies that show adults treat even infants differently, depending on what they are told about the baby’s gender. Our experiences and interactions are shaped by how society reacts to our gender, starting at birth. Think about that for a minute. The plasticity of brains is also scientifically well-established. So of course there’s going to be some difference in PET scans, but to say that there’s some direct link between biological sex and interest in STEM subjects is not a conclusion that’s possible to make. Is it possible that, in a completely gender-neutral society, boys will still show more interest in these topics? Sure, it’s possible. But we cannot conclude that now. Attitudes toward gender and STEM have a much more significant effect than biology does, on girls’ and womens’ interests and inclination to pursue it as a career or area of study. I can say that for a fact based on women’s experiences in my industry, and my own experience throughout my life.

Have you seen this recent study, which showed that women’s pull requests on GitHub were more likely to be accepted than men’s when their profile did not reveal their gender, and less likely to be accepted when it did? This study laid bare the fact that gender biases perceptions about technical skill, specifically, being a woman makes people see you as a less competent coder. Do you think that perhaps being seen as less talented or competent than men, even when they are more talented, might have some effect on women’s and girls’ interest to pursue STEM? Hmm.

For more reading on this topic, check out Delusions of Gender by Cordelia Fine — it’s about the science behind differences that are frequently attributed to gender. Many neurological differences between the genders are not biological. Brains and brain activity are shaped by our life experiences.