Originally Posted by aquinas
An example of Canadian HR law in practice-- if you are an employer filling a job in a field with a historic demographic bias, you must actively enact policies that encourage the hiring of the "disadvantaged" group(s).

Having spoken with high-level HR professionals at several banks, consultancies, CPG firms, and governments, if an equally qualified male and female apply for most professional services roles, the female will get the job. Lucrative government work doesn't even rely on the notion of equal qualification--simply belonging to an underrepresented group and being somewhat qualified will get you the job.

In law, this seems to work to get the women into corporate/government (lower stress/lower pay) roles, leaving the male lawyers with the big law firms (higher stress/higher pay).