My job is not to balance an arbitrary math equation that x% of engineers are supposed to be women.
It's also true that your job is not to balance an arbitrary math equation that x% of engineers are supposed to be men either. Consequently, unless you can demonstrate that you're unbiased with regard to gender, it's entirely reasonable to introduce an external pressure to make sure any bias (conscious or otherwise) is mitigated. Ideally that would be blind interviews but that's very difficult to achieve, so diversity programmes are used instead.
You make a good point that I've fought with for a while too. My thinking on this is that unless I can be shown the work for what that % is supposed to be, we're just being wrong by policy, rather than wrong by systemic cultural biases.
I don't believe that a perfect world has every job populated by a even number of persons of all genders. To me, that would suggest that we believe all genders to be the same.
For example, Almost 100% of midwives in Ontario are female. Is this fundamentally wrong and needs to be addressed? What is the correct percentage of male, female, and other midwives? What is the measure of our policy's effectiveness?
Is this fundamentally wrong and needs to be addressed?
It's certainly wrong if there are men who want to be midwives but are blocked from entering that career due to hiring biases. It's also wrong if the few male midwives that do exist are unable to progress in their careers due to sexism in their industry. It's yet more wrong if boys are put off that career at an early age by being told by their teachers (and parents) that being a midwife isn't an acceptable career for a man.
So, yes, it probably is fundamentally wrong and does need to be addressed.
>Almost 100% of midwives in Ontario are female
No, it is only a problem for the "good jobs" that are dominated by men. No one will fight for gender ratios in the coal mining business, despite how useful "a diversity of life experience and opinion" might be within this industry.
This entire thing is a political tool being disguised as a moral crusade and it is playing off our collective desire to do the right thing. Absolutely disgusting.
It's also true that your job is not to balance an arbitrary math equation that x% of engineers are supposed to be men either. Consequently, unless you can demonstrate that you're unbiased with regard to gender, it's entirely reasonable to introduce an external pressure to make sure any bias (conscious or otherwise) is mitigated. Ideally that would be blind interviews but that's very difficult to achieve, so diversity programmes are used instead.