I agree with the gist of what you say. Although I wouldn't say it's about smart or stupid - men are smart too, yet we make those questionable career choices.
It's rather about people understanding their situation pretty well. I think that we should assume that for ANY large group of people which isn't pathologically self-selected, they understand their own situation pretty well. They know what they have lose. They know what they stand to win. They know the tradeoffs they face. Better than those outside their group do.
It sounds trivial, but a ton of gender justice arguments just ignore it. For instance, tge big splash a while back arguing that women could get paid better if they only were as bold as men in asking for a raise, was suggesting women are systematically wrong about their own situation. As a group, not merely the odd individual. And I don't buy that.
The most plausible argument for the lack of women in X (or the lack of men in Y) to me always was simply that people don't want to be in a small minority if they can choose. Schelling's segregation model. That IS an argument for gender quotas, but is an argument AGAINST "sensitivity training" or similar efforts, at least for thinking they will fix balance problems.
It's rather about people understanding their situation pretty well. I think that we should assume that for ANY large group of people which isn't pathologically self-selected, they understand their own situation pretty well. They know what they have lose. They know what they stand to win. They know the tradeoffs they face. Better than those outside their group do.
It sounds trivial, but a ton of gender justice arguments just ignore it. For instance, tge big splash a while back arguing that women could get paid better if they only were as bold as men in asking for a raise, was suggesting women are systematically wrong about their own situation. As a group, not merely the odd individual. And I don't buy that.
The most plausible argument for the lack of women in X (or the lack of men in Y) to me always was simply that people don't want to be in a small minority if they can choose. Schelling's segregation model. That IS an argument for gender quotas, but is an argument AGAINST "sensitivity training" or similar efforts, at least for thinking they will fix balance problems.