I was part of my university's hiring process for cs professors a few times. Half the time there wasn't a single female applicant. If there was a female applicant, based on the objective measures considered (papers, grants, teaching awards etc) the female applicant always landed in the lower third, the ones that get sorted out quickly. Needless to say, I haven't witnessed a woman being hired, it just never appeared as the sensible choice.
Hiring women is really hard if the hiring pool is too one-sided.
This led to the situation where one of the candidates insisted that her husband (who was also a CS academic) be given a job as well as her. The university agreed to her demand, but refused to give him a tenure track position. The funny thing was, IMHO she was not particularly good. I can't remember what she was working on, but it was not very compelling research and she had difficulty getting grants, etc. He, on the other hand, was spectacular (and a great teacher to boot). Eventually, because the university steadfastly refused to give the husband a tenure track position (in a fit of pique???), the couple left the university.
That was my first exposure to this kind of politics and since then I've always kept in the back of my mind that it's always waaaay more complicated than you think it is when you try to introduce weird politics in hiring and promotion policies. Much better to simply clear the barriers as best as you can and measure your progress. It might take longer, but you have a better chance of success, I think.