At least from what I witnessed (Melbourne, AU, studied EEE from 2012 - 2015) There was absolutely preferential treatment given to women in STEM during that peri

At least from what I witnessed (Melbourne, AU, studied EEE from 2012 - 2015) There was absolutely preferential treatment given to women in STEM during that period of time. All around the university, you'd see posters for bursaries and scholarships that turned out to either strongly preference female candidates or be for women only. When it came to getting jobs in the final year, our female classmates would see multiple offers from Accenture, CommBank, Telstra etc. while the guys either took advantage of family connections or fought to get into a B-tier company (This was actually reflected in the stats; female engineering grads would be paid around 10% more on average from 2008 to 2016). I still remember my old man, who was made redundant around when Tony Abboott got in (he was in the energy efficiency sector) being knocked back from certain positions and later finding out it was because the position had been earmarked for a female candidate. I understand not everyone experienced it so personally, but bring it up quietly amongst colleagues and I'm sure you'll hear a few interesting things. Pretty much everyone would talk about it on the down-low back then.