There have been some very good thoughts exchanged in this thread. Some controversial ideas have been espoused and that's OK. Years ago (if one goes through some QSTs from the 50s and 60s) there was a section about YL hams that highlighted the achievements of female operators. A number of these women had been radio telegraphers or radio technicians during WWII and therefore had rigorous training and experience. Therefore they developed an interest in the amateur radio hobby because the men engaged in it tended to be technically astute and perhaps a 'good catch' for a woman seeking a professional mate.
Remember when you look through those old QSTs how people dressed when they went to club meetings and the like. Men dressed in suits and ties, the articles where quite technical, and although ham radio was a hobby and technically a 'service' (per the FCC) there appeared to be a certain level of pride among hams in those days. With so many people swelling ham radio ranks today and the nature of 'buy off the shelf' equipment (less home brewing) we find ham radio declining into a niche consumer electronics market.
The ARRL simply wants to homogenize ham radio into such a hobby primarily to gain more dues paying members and substantiate their advertising rates to the amateur equipment industry. They are less concerned with some of the older, traditional aspects of the hobby. With the simplification of the license testing process to gain larger ham populations the statement that amateur radio 'represents people from all walks of life' takes on a new meaning. Gone are the days when higher minded professionals integrated into ham radio adding a greater degree of academic contribution to the hobby.
Today, amateur radio is a much more pedestrian pursuit similar to the earliest CB adopters who were eventually eclipsed by less educated rap artist talkers. Now I am not saying that ham radio operators are collectively dumb low class characters; I am positing that we are not as elevated as we think we are.
The opportunity for social elevation by interacting with today's amateur radio community is paltry. Back in the day many young men joined amateur radio clubs to find elmers to assist them in their practical hands on pursuit towards the RF engineering field which was in it's heyday during the cold war. Raytheon and other electronics giants placed ads in QST soliciting engineers and skilled technicians to join their ranks. Try finding such ads today.
To get back to the question of why very few women become hams begs the question of what the average woman thinks she can get out of the hobby. Let’s go through a list of just a few considerations that a woman might ponder in considering her participation in the hobby. Imagining your criteria is from a woman’s point of view so I’ll let each of you review them yourself and come to your own conclusions (you may wish to add your own open ended input to add to these):
> Premise: Ham radio operators are educated professionals with high income potential and I would like to meet such men.
- Do any of these amateur radio guys here at the hamfest have a clean shirt, don’t smell, or take care of themselves?
- OK so I’m at the ham radio club as a guest; is there anyone here below the age of 50 and if they are how come they seem weird?
> Premise: Ham radio is an exciting hobby both professionally and socially.
- How come these contact nets are so boring?
- Don’t these guys talk about things other than the weather, their lawn mower, how may ailments they are medicating for, etc?
- How come they don’t engage in intellectually stimulating discussions?