The leadership of a large tech company I work with openly stated internally that they will only consider female candidates for a particular new executive-level role, to promote diversity. No male candidates would be considered.
After over half a year of searching, they were unable to find a female candidate who had the qualifications, experience, and skills at the level of billion-dollar multi national companies, who also wanted to relocate during a pandemic.
Eventually the company expanded the search to all candidates, regardless of gender. After many months later, the company found a qualified candidate for the role, and hired them. This candidate was a white man, and it was brought up at several company-wide meetings about how hard the company tried to only hire a woman, but was unable to get a qualified candidate.
Is this the new normal at tech companies? Is this even legal?
In England it's problematic. Here's the Equality and Human Rights Commission advice: https://www.equalityhumanrights.com/en/advice-and-guidance/h...
If a man and a woman apply for a job and they're both equally suitable you are allowed to select the woman because she's a woman if you intend to widen the diversity of your workforce. (Or, if you employ mostly women, you're allowed to select the man because he's a man). In law this is "a proportionate means of achieving a legitimate aim".