I know that initially, part of the reason was that only women knew how to type.
In fact, it was almost embarrassing for a man if he knew how to type since that was women's work.
So I'm sure that played a role once keyboard came into the picture.
Before that, when it was mostly punchcards, women were manual "computers" that did the calculations. So it seems reasonable that computers were considered women's work and thus that drive the trend.
Whether women were more or less suited to the job wouldn't seem to be relevant at the time.
I would say "more or less preferred" is a more relevant and less acerbic metric to consider.
I think James Damore's main thesis (or one of his main theses) was that men had more of a natural and biologically driven preference to work with things/machines. So if women were placed in these positions, it detracts from the narrative that "something mysterious happened in the 80s that caused women to flee the computer industry".
In fact, it was almost embarrassing for a man if he knew how to type since that was women's work.
So I'm sure that played a role once keyboard came into the picture.
Before that, when it was mostly punchcards, women were manual "computers" that did the calculations. So it seems reasonable that computers were considered women's work and thus that drive the trend.
Whether women were more or less suited to the job wouldn't seem to be relevant at the time.