My point is that there is nothing about programming that should make it more appealing to men versus women, given that a very similar field, accounting, has an equal representation of men and women.
No, but when fields that are very similar in terms of intellectual demands have dramatically different gender representations, there is reason to be suspicious about what is really driving the disparity.
A good example is teaching. There is no reason teaching should be more attractive to women than men, yet in the U.S. most teachers are women. But this disparity is entirely cultural--in some countries there is not only no stigma against male teachers, but a preference for them. Isn't it valid to ask why social structure is keeping men out of a solid, socially useful career?
It seems to be accepted that these characteristics are beneficial for coding.
So why wouldn't a 50/50 split in CS be evidence of discrimination against men?