More readers share their thoughts on the recent thread:

As a female atheist I agree with the reasons for our scarcity theorized by Susan Jacoby in the Humanist article you linked to previously. The source communities for atheism are male dominated, and politically conscious women are – in my experience with student activism at least – more inclined to tackle issues specific to women.

I would add my own supplemental theory, which is that women are the traditional transmitters of culture to the next generation. Whatever parent does the most caregiving is the most responsible for instilling in the children a code of behavior, and progress toward parental equity notwithstanding, that’s still mostly women. Because our society still equates morality and social cohesion with supernatural belief, I’m sure there are many women who start out with a neutral position toward religion but drift closer to it – and away from atheism – as a subconscious promotion of their children’s social acceptability. There is plenty of anecdotal evidence that believers often become more devout when they start raising children and I wouldn’t be surprised if that has a drag effect on the level of belief.