But, is software development really "power"? Is it really "changing the world"? Is it really all that meaningful? This is where I start to get a bit skeptical. If we are changing the world, we certainly aren't necessarily changing the world for the better. We are not eradicating poverty, disease, or violence and abuse by writing software.
Maybe people who are looking to change the world are looking to do that in more meaningful ways, where they can actually have a real impact on real peoples lives.
Maybe there are other, more cultural reasons why the field isn't entirely flooded with women. Maybe we aren't encouraging young girls to be curious. Maybe we aren't glamourizing it with TV and movies.
Maybe it's a lot of things, and maybe a lot of things have to change before this becomes something that your average 9 year old girl will want to take on.
In the mean time, lets not pretend that women aren't changing the world in important ways already. We can do better, but don't be dismissive of women who have decided to go into medicine, or city planning, or agriculture, or astronomy, or law, or architecture, or writing, or academia. They're changing the world too, and most likely in much more meaningful and valuable ways than we are in tech.