A rant on gender stereotypes

[John V]

But here's the interesting question, WHY are they seen as generally valid? Do most girls disdain doing their own brake work because they generally disdain the work, or because they are pressured not to do it? I was discouraged from learning it because it wasn't ladylike to be covered in engine grease. If there was no pressure would we see more women who were mechanics and engineers and whatnot? Do men disdain cooking because they genuinely have no interest, or because it is discouraged since cooking is women's work?

It's not either/or, it's and. There are real biological differences between men and women, and social constructs which reinforce those differences.