Really? Hmm... That's a slight bit old-fashioned, isn't it? I'd like to think there are more neuances to my personality than simply male or female traits. I'm working on my PhD, it's science related - does that mean I should feel less ...uhmm... womanly?
I'm sure there are several reasons for why women choose traditional; personality traits are just one, the values we are taught another, advice from peers/ parents/ student guidance... The rate of women choosing non-traditional trades is steadily - yet slowly - increasing (well, at least in Europe and Northern America, those are the countries I'm more familiar with). I don't think that the male-female rate will necessarily reach 50-50 in many of the traditional gender biased fields like engineering or nursing, but I think what we look at as an untraditional choice today will seem less ...let's say surprising... within the near future.
As for the original poster; yes, I think women were more likely to tone down their sholastic abilities - and achievements - before. The more delicate traits were encouraged, women weren't supposed to excel past the eight grade. Also, it wasn't so many years ago that women were not allowed to spend her family's money on an education that would be of no use - after all, her mission was to be a mother and a housewife. Today, women have a choice to choose a career, a family, or the combination of the two. Still, though, I find that men are sometimes turned off by being outsmarted by a female... I'm with NJQT - I tend not to give a complete resume when I first meet someone: partly because I don't feel I'm solely defined by my choice in education, partly because I know it sometimes makes people uncomfortable.
To the OP; I think that girls and women of the younger generations speak more freely about most things; they are taught that they are entitled to an opinion, an education, a career, and a good life - it doesn't occur to us that we should ..uhmm... tone down in class or in work.