Delusions of Gender

Behind every great academic man there is a woman, but behind every great academic woman is an unpeeled potato and a child who needs some attention. (...) So when a female academic who would like to have more than few minutes for herself every day, as well as a family, jumps of the academic ladder and into a more flexible but dead-end second-tier research position, is it because she's intrinsically less interested in a demanding academic career or because there are only twenty-four hours in a day?

But even in higher-quality children's literature, more subtle stereotypes remain. (...) One gender was most commonly described as, among other adjectives, beautiful, frightened, worthy, sweet, weak, and scared in the stories; the other gender as big, horrible, fierce, great, terrible, furious, brave, and proud. (If you're not sure which sex is being described in these two lists, ask your nearest gender-neutrally reared preschooler; he or she will be sure to know.) Unsurprisingly, the adjectives for males were rated as more powerful, active, and masculine than those used for females. And we all know which type of person we'd rather have with us on an adventure. (...)
Even so, it is easier to find an adventurous girl than a sissy boy. (...) Just as in the real world women have been quicker to forge forth into the masculine world of work than men have been to sink back into domesticity, in children's books, too, it is mostly females who do the crossing of gender boundaries.

A sociocultural environment is not some cunningly contrived thing that only exist in social psychology labs. Don't look now, but you're in one right this moment.