Are you saying that there aren't enough jobs to go around? because that's patently not the case.
We need more engineers, to do that we need to train them. Instead of overfishing the standard places, we need to look elsewhere. If you want a purely business case, it cheaper to hire women, they are more loyal and don't ask for payrises[1]. not only that training in the UK is effectively free.
if you want a moral case: I want my daughter to work in my role (or what it evolves into.) at the moment she's going to have a shit time
Did you step aside to make way for a female hire?