"This approach shifts the responsibility for the gender imbalance in STEM onto the educators (where, admittedly, some of the responsibility does belong), rather than placing it on the hiring mechanisms of STEM firms."
It's not just the hiring mechanism of STEM firms, it's the culture of these firms. I work at a larger company that has quite a few female software developers, and I can't imagine any of them even wanting to apply for a job in a company that consists of a bunch of macho guys who are trying to hire a "rock star" or "ninja" programmer to code 12 hours a day (a schedule that pretty much implies that they're looking for a young person with no life or commitments outside of work). These companies will never get the chance to hire them because they'll never have an interest in working there.
It's not just the hiring mechanism of STEM firms, it's the culture of these firms. I work at a larger company that has quite a few female software developers, and I can't imagine any of them even wanting to apply for a job in a company that consists of a bunch of macho guys who are trying to hire a "rock star" or "ninja" programmer to code 12 hours a day (a schedule that pretty much implies that they're looking for a young person with no life or commitments outside of work). These companies will never get the chance to hire them because they'll never have an interest in working there.