There's a pretty constant meme out there that women are "held back" by the patriarchy in every field.

So I thought it might be constructive to start looking at DIY success stories and skills that are largely self-taught. Interestingly, when one looks at DIY success / self-taught skills -- there are few women.

What are self taught skills? Self taught skills are the skills a man learns largely on his own with no formal social or governmental support. He literally goes into a room day after day for 1000's of hours over the course of years, and becomes a badass in his chosen field.

Here are some examples:

Chess Where are the female grandmasters who can compete with men? In the history of Chess there has never been a female that has climbed to the top. Patriarchy? Alpha male dominance? (Please. Have you ever seen the average chess player?)

Guitar virtuosos Guitar unlike almost every other instrument is usually self-taught. There's no politics involved. There are zero women that make the top ten lists for "virtuoso" guitar players. http://www.last.fm/tag/guitar+virtuoso/artists If you read interviews with guitar players and ask them how they learned, it's the same answer every.single.time: They spent their teenage years alone in their rooms practicing. Was there some patriarchy that prevented women from doing that?

Independent App developers We've all heard it a million times: The software and tech industry is hostile to females. But if that's the sole explanation for the low representation of women, then why are there so few independent, single-dev success stories from women? If you look at the top ten list for most successful indie app devs, there are zero women. Zero. Did some patriarchy prevent them from coding up a killer app in their rooms by themselves? Furthermore, if women were "kept out" of software jobs, wouldn't we expect to see more female independent app developers? http://www.businessinsider.com/best-indie-app-developers-2012-11

Mathematical Savants Throughout history there have been hundreds of savants that are capable of mathematical feats that give computers a run for their money. No one can explain this ability, and it cannot be taught in school. Although savants do say that they work on and hone their own abilities. It's a combination of a male-brain characteristic and self taught skill. (I know, I know... male brains and female brains are supposed to be the same... except no they're not). Here are the top savants: http://www.neatorama.com/2008/09/05/10-most-fascinating-savants-in-the-world/ Where are the women? Was there some patriarchy involved?

Any other examples?