http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/On_the_Internet,_nobody_knows_y...
Well, this is another point for the distributed, asynchronous programming championed by http://asyncmanifesto.org/
I would be happy to hire a woman programmer at our company provided she was awesome at the stuff we need -- Javascript, PHP, etc. In fact if someone here is reading this (man or woman) and thinks they would like to work with us on http://github.com/EGreg/Q, I would be very happy to talk to you -- if you can figure out how to contact me from there.
In programming, the internet is the great equalizer. Have your work speak for itself, have your reviews speak for themselves, and this may be a faster vector for advancement than at a job.
PS: Recently I did reach out to one woman who I found on oDesk and she was busy with a project, but recommended someone else, a man. And now I'm talking to him, because she recommended well.
PPS: We do have a woman working in our company, doing sales. I really hire based simply on competence with the stuff we need and so far it's ben mostly men doing the programming.