The participation of women in science--and indeed in almost every aspect of our society--has increased steadily for the last few decades. We can say with absolute certainty that this is due to an increase in opportunity and a decrease in discrimination and exclusion.

What do you exclude from particpation "in almost every aspect of our society"? You seem not to understand the reality of tradeoffs in activities that one chooses to do. Over the last few decades, women have faced intense social pressure to conform to traditional male standards of success, namely, job earnings and status. At least over the past decade, increasing social pressure on women to conform to male standards has probably affected women's career choices more than discrimination.

Today, the more children a woman has, the more she is considered benighted. From a historical and evolutionary perspective, that's amazing.