There is a lot that is cultural. I have to be careful with my daughter that I'm providing her the same learning experiences as my son. Take robotics as an example. My son loved legos and I lobbied my wife for a long time to get a set of Lego Mindstorms for him (and OK, for me too) but they are pretty expensive. So we did get them, but we waited too long. He now thinks of legos as "kids toys", though if I start to work on a robot, his curiosity will be piqued and he will want to help.

What I didn't think about is his sister, who is 4 years younger. She wants to play with them and there is no arm twisting involved to get her to help. I would have never thought to buy them for her and I'm kicking myself for it.

To me cycling is not a male dominated thing at all outside of perhaps the sports aspect of it. We weren't any softer on our daughter when it came to learning to ride or distance. In fact we were probably less soft on her because she was the 2nd child. With the first kid you're afraid they're going to die if they sleep the wrong way. By the second kid, you've figured out that they're pretty resilient.

As far as girls being weak, fearful, or avoiding physical activity, I have to kind of laugh at that one. My son, who is 4 years older, wouldn't go down to the basement by himself unless he could get his sister to come with him. She was definitely the more fearless of the two, and again that may have partly to do with being a second child. And though both are active, she's also the more driven one and will push herself harder.

Obviously our opinions are formed by our own experiences and perceptions. I know so many women athletes, including my wife, that the idea that women avoid activities that involve physical exertion is a pretty foreign concept to me.