I lost out on four jobs because of this type of policy while I worked at Transport Canada (federal government). The last was filled by a female under a program that gave an "extra" person-year to any unit who hired a female in a non-traditional area of employment. Since she was a civil engineer and we had none in our unit, she got the position of junior design engineer, newly graduated with no experience - not even summer employment. I took my six years in the field section and my master's degree and resigned. She's still there, earning a whopping salary... and I'm still pissed about it.