Actually there are a number of women programmers, granted not as many as men - but the number is growing. I graduated from University about four years ago... and there were a number of women pursuing the degree of CS - I even had several TAs/Profs who were female - who were excellent teachers, as well programmers.

As in all areas of life, some people enjoy different things - no matter the gender or the area. The statistics grow and fall over the years and I'm sure will continue to change over time. As footpad has mentioned ... there are excellent female programmers here (i.e. neshura, kudra, etc). I think that the fact that Hi-Tech jobs are one of the highest paid - is effecting both genders in considering what sort of career path is they're choosing now days. Heck, I know of one person here who turned down a marketing position for an IT position due to the large growth in the field - even though they highly enjoyed marketing/advertising. Of course, they're now mixing both IT and marketing in their projects today. Scary thought, eh? Basically, I think that many fields may be traditionally more of one gender than another - but as in life, things change - nothing remains static forever.

P.S. what did you mean exactly by.. "not many American-born women are becoming programmers.." - does that mean if I was a woman who happened to be born in another country but raised in America - that I wouldn't fit in that sentence? Or that other countries are maybe influencing the female gender to rise up and tackle Hi-Tech - while America isn't? I guess that's another question for another day...(no, I'm not saying you're racist or anything that to that effect - just curious what was meant by it)