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<p>Actually, men are allowed to join SWE. Men are allowed to join most of the women’s sci/eng affinity groups that I’ve seen.</p>
<p>Not that a group intended to support a small minority population that still faces harassment and discrimination in the field (I could tell you some stories from people I know) is actually the same thing as a group used by the dominant population to shore up their dominance.</p>
<p>I think that the numbers for women are getting better in some fields of engineering, but they are still dismal in computer science. At my company (which does intelligent systems research and software), the science & engineering staff is something like 8% women, and almost all of us are young and junior-level.</p>
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<p>I think the key word here is “lose”. Middle school frequently does a number on girls, what with the constant sexual harassment and extreme pressure to conform to a certain definition of femininity, and I wouldn’t be surprised if girls who were interested in math/science as little kids <em>drop</em> those interests in middle school.</p>