Stopping the Exodus of Women in Science (hbr.org)

I think the truth is that science is an activity that chews people up and spits them out. When I got my physics PhD, the APS said only 2% of my class would get permanent jobs in the field.

Because people are concerned about attrition of women more than the attrition of men, any women who run the guantlet that far had some possibility of getting a tenure track job. The men just went to Goldman Sachs.

There is an exodus of women in other fields beyond science except for sectors/industries where a majority is female. I think that if you are a minority then issues like these are more noticeable.

So, the problem is the workplace is too masculine because there are too many men in science and engineering.

Except if you do a search for "women leaving workforce" you'll find it's a trend for middle-aged women across all fields.