And I think you are right. CS is not that special imho, and the gender imbalance should be more similar to e.g. maths.
> The term for an argument gerrymandered around the data to the degree "CS participation disparity is innate" is is special pleading.
I'm curious, though... Do you have any kind of research that would back your point up? Anything that would refute this "special pleading"?
I mean... I think you are right, but then again I (and you?) are CS experts and not experts at chemical engineering. Could it be that we underestimate the difficulties in CS, and overestimate these in chemical engineering?