Women seem to retract fewer papers than men – but why?

The subtitle reveals that it's a small data set: "In an analysis of nearly 900 retracted medical-research studies, the number of female authors is disproportionately low."

I'd chalk it up to women medical researchers being relatively risk-adverse, and believing that they'd be thrown under the bus for "shortcomings" that a male would probably get away with.

There's nothing particularly modern, western, or gender-coded about that behavior. Social status let you get away with more and worse transgressions back when pyramid-building certs were a ticket to success.