Believable. Though that probably wasn't the actual reason, just the most excusable one they could say if backed into a corner. My boss just did the same thing but he's clearly trying to get sum fuck.
Hiring quotas and diversity criteria should be illegal. Hiring somebody based on gender or race alone is racism. If they have more experience, or better skills, then hire away, but diversity should not be the deciding factor.
Yeah, I hear this a lot, but there are many ways to view the situation. Diversity quotas are more than a forced show of inclusiveness. Tons of studies show that businesses who have higher multicultural and gender diversity perform much better than businesses with lower, as well as create positive and healthy work environments. Diversity brings more ideas and perspective, and women especially score higher in areas of social perspective and collaboration. Anyone who works in teams on big projects can tell you that having qualifications or experience is only part of what you bring to the table.
Personally I'm a Hispanic woman in computer science who just got an internship at a really great place, and it grinds my gears when my classmates insist that the only reason I got hired was only bc of affirmative action and not bc of my years of work experience, 4.0 gpa, and team collaboration skills. Although I will say, like all things, the hiring process is not perfect and is always in need of good, unbiased people.
It doesn’t matter if they were trying to meet a diversity quota, they can’t discriminate on the basis of sex.
Maybe he thought he was more qualified, but he wasn’t. And maybe, he had better academics, but not better soft skills.
Maybe he thought he was more qualified, but he wasn’t. And maybe, he had better academics, but not better soft skills.