Snagged a copy of a paper that gets distributed in NYC (am newyork). They printed an article regarding tech and gender in NYC:

The Digital Gender Gap: Push to increase the presence of women in NYC tech.

There doesn't appear to be an online copy, so I'll just go through it. Apparently the fact that men dominate the industry is inherently a bad thing. About 10% of the working women have jobs in tech despite 39% of women having a degree in STEM.

To counteract this imbalance, they're launching a program to teach middle shcool-aged girls tech skills.

The reason why there's a lack of women in tech according to the article: "Intimidation at starting in an industry where male domination is so deeply entrenched; a 'pipeline problem' in which very few women are educated in the fields early on and during college; an echo of cultural and workplace sexism; and a small amount of positions open to women during the industry's founding decades ago that has persisted."

They see the relative youth of New York's tech scene as a chance to "do it right" compared to Silicon Valley, in terms of a balanced gender ratio.

Some parting stats from the article:

39.2% of city women with a bachelor's degree in STEM

9.8% female workforce working in tech

18% of NY startups founded by women (10% in Silicon Valley)