Yes, there does seem to be a systemic bias against women going into engineering: purely that few girls seem to think of it as a valuable and desirable course of study.
So is that a bias on the part of the engineering/science world, or a bias on the part of the girls who don't want to go into the field? If the latter, why should society bribe the uninterested to go into the field, simply to achieve PC sex ratios?
Now I do think it'd be a good idea to encourage younger kids, both boys and girls, to be more interested in science, but that's an entirely different matter.
Anyway, you could point to a whole bunch of not quite as obvious relevant interests girls may enjoy at various ages: jigsaw puzzles; playing lego; orienteering; logic puzzles and puzzle-solving computer games; building sandcastles, dams, cubby houses...
Sure, but I got tired of typing :-) Point remains: I think in general you'll find that, from a very young age, girls tend to be less interested in those things than boys.
(And for an example on the flip side, why is the recreational horse world about 90% women?)
Um, have you been in college-level engineering classes? Upper level college physics classes?
BS in math & physics (with a lot of grad work in physics, 'cause I enjoyed it), graduate degrees in computer engineering.
My experience with this is that both are very hostile environments towards women. If a young lady is truly outstanding in these areas, then there's a good chance she will be even more reviled, isolated, ignored, not mentored, discouraged.
Not at all what I've observed. Though I think "...isolated, ignored, not mentored..." describes what most males in the field experience (it certainly was mine), so why should women expect special treatment?