Is the B.C. Workplace Toxic to Women?

A US Study shows that the modern workplace is extremely divided by gender, and women seem to be reacting to it by abandoning it. Is the BC workplace also toxic to women?

Are BC women unhappy at work? Are they leaving in droves to find work that provides them with something they feel is lacking in today’s workplace?
 
I ask because BNET’s blog, The View From Harvard Business, citing a study that showed women were twice as likely as men to leave a job, asked a similar question. It drew an astonishing 138 comments, which ranged from the very thoughtful to the predictable sniping between the sexes.
 
Primarily, this study and the responses to it showed that there are extreme divisions in the modern workplace. And it also pointed to a growing workplace toxicity to women.
 
Probably, this is also the situation in BC.
 
Obviously, there are local differences that come into play. BC is not as corporate as the typical American business scene. We are far more represented here by small business, which can be more intimate, than by the stereotypical big unfeeling corporate structure. On the other hand, we’re a branch plant economy, and that might create unique situations.

However, the BC business scene does seem to be divided in terms of representation. Technology, finance, and resources, for example, are still by and large male domains; sectors that emphasize “soft” skills – media, human resources, marketing, communications and many business service operations – are largely female.
 
The professions — law, accounting, consulting, certainly engineering, etc. – are still predominately male, although that’s rapidly changing. Small business is still probably skewed to male, but that’s also changing (perhaps because so many women are fleeing the traditional sectors for their own businesses?)
 
Executive levels still seem to be predominately male.
 
So, I guess we’re not as “advanced” as we might think. This means there are probably many divisions remaining in BC workplaces.  
 
I’m no guru, and I’m as flummoxed as many other people as to why this is. Maybe it’s because I’m male and thus have a naturally stilted point of view.
 
So I’ll put the question out there.
 
 Are BC women unhappy in their workplaces? Why is that? And what can be done about it?