[duncan_bayne]

> Or would the goal be to hire the best 100 and that should end up being roughly 35 females that are equally qualified and therefore earn the same?

Yes, that - hiring the best 100, and using the same criteria, and paying the same, regardless of gender.

If you _didn't_ wind up with 35 females in your scenario, then investigate. It might be that by chance few of the female candidates were good, but it might also be that they were penalised by inadvertent (or overt, in pathological cases!) irrational discrimintation.

Edited: oh, and often the systemic problems start earlier in the pipeline. Even the number of female applicants can be inadvertently driven down by creating job postings that appeal - in the aggregate, on average - more to men than women.