A few points to make here: > I can count on one hand the number of women that sent their CV through, and we interviewed two, hiring one. Studies show that: (

A few points to make here: > I can count on one hand the number of women that sent their CV through, and we interviewed two, hiring one. Studies show that: (a) You can create a biased process inadvertently before the CV stage based on the language you use and approach to sourcing. (b) CVs themselves are also a biasing influence. (c) Interviews are extremely biasing unless done in a very structured way, and even then they're not great. So it's very likely that you're (without meaning to) introducing additional bias on top of the constraints on the talent pool. This isn't finger-pointing, it's very hard to run a bias-free process. Even the Googles of the world fail at this. > ...an environment where gender should make no difference to their desire or interest in STEM subjects Are you saying that the environment is neutral, or that it should be neutral? First would be wrong, second would be correct. > Given two candidates... Your hypotheticals are premised on the idea that your hiring process and judgement are objective, and that you need to positively discriminate in order to redress the balance... that's simply not a view supported by the literature on this.