In most fields, women don't receive their fair share, i.e. they're 30% of the applications and "win" 20% of the time,  or in the case of chairs they're 30% of scientists but they receive a smaller proportion. This is what it is about.

 The problem with the merit-based system is that there seems to be many biases against women (and against younger scientists and minorities). For example, women are less likely to be invited as guest speakers even when they represent 50% of the research community. Their resumes end up being less padded and they then don't get the chairs positions.  Furthermore, men tend to be more emphatic when describing their achievements, and women tend to be judged more harshly by reviewers including by women. This is all backed up by evidence, so we have to realize that particular efforts need to be made to address the situation, to get to the point of having a real objective merit-based system..

The Cabinet is a different situation and I'm all out of characters.