Do only men research cacao?

I promise I'll get a for-reals post up soon (it's the photo uploaders fault! I want to upload photos for an interesting post and it won't let me!), but for now, let me just mention that I have yet again been assumed to be a man.

What is with this? Is the cocoa/chocolate industry so saturated with men that it's the default assumption that anyone interested in cocoa chains is male? I know from my experience that while both men and women work to cultivate and eventually harvest cocoa, mostly men are involved in the commercialization and selling process. But in the north, where most cocoa beans are processed into chocolate, I didn't think that the gender bias would be so strong. Believe me, I have looked over PLENTY of chocolate makers' websites, and I've read about women in a wide range of positions- manufacturers, bean sourcers, advertising managers, etc. Yet still, I sent an email to a German chocolate maker (in English), and I received a response thanking me, Mr. Stoler, for my interest.

I remain optimistically hopeful that Michelle is a common male name in Europe.