Really? When I started working in the ‘70s women were routinely underpaid and overperforming for the level they were promoted to. Never have seen women routinely promoted because they were women—and certainly not able to do only half the job of a man who preceded them.
They largely are simply not interested in your typical STEM job, But they are often good at marketing, account management, PR and HR jobs, for example, at tech companies.
I expect there are a lower percentage of women than men who would be very good at coding, engineering, etc. But if we weren’t obsessed with social engineering that really wouldn’t be an issue.
The settlements of the big financial firms in NYC showed the issue in a nutshell; fill the slots with the correct quota of females or pay millions - and hire a “chief diversity officer” (anyone but a straight white guy).
I was born in the 70s so can’t speak to practices of the time; I’ve worked in the environment of 60% female college classes that still result in underrepresentation in STEM.