Ok quick context, he is doing an internship/placement at a major, blue-collar tech organisation in the UK.
Fired is probably not the right word, but it was suggested he does not continue past his 1 month probation.
He and I both do not give into this third-wave feminism 'made up stats' and 'oppression' bullshit.

Ok, company xyz, (I will call them) had a one month review. My friend is a top marks student, one hell of a programmer and being in the same year as me, makes me mother bleeping jealous of him. (Don't worry i'm still learning.)

He was doing fine, did his work, passed his university exams with flying colours, easily got the job at xyz, and was going places. They asked him a few questions which he confidently answered, then came up the next question (not sic mind you but along the lines):

How important do you think it is that we get more women in the tech workplace?

Now, as a believer of equality of oppurtunity for everyone based solely on their merits, he answered this. Note that elaboration is usually required in these answers, so they were expecting also a 'how do we do this' etc. Also, there's only one objective answer to this question, so it is kind of pointless asking anyway because no one is going to flat out say 'not very important'.

Now his answer was reasoned and though out, and along the lines of (again, not sic)

The technology industry is large and ever growing and their is a lot of room for everyone to join the party. Majoring in computer science can be difficult so it requires a lot of preparation and dedication to achieve greater heights. With that in mind, I truely believe that anyone who is interested enough to pursue this career should really give it a try, and it could result in fresh new ideas for the industry which is a win-win, and we should encourage it from the offset throughout primary and higher education.

Note how he avoided pretty much saying what he wanted to "It's important that we get good, quality people regardless of gender or race into the industry", to be fair he did a good job without going against his morals but the interviewer pretty much knew what he was about then, but he got told immediately after that question that he is subject to a review, and later, he will not proceed past his months probation.

Personally, I don't think you can be judged on a very stupid question in an interview. I mean, it's important that we get more, good people into the industry. Grabbing a bunch of women and shoving them into an industry just for the sake of having a close to 1:1 ratio rather than them being interested is ridiculous. Do you think he was unfairly dismissed based on the above or was he unreasonable in thinking so?

Sorry for your friend, those kind of questions are always traps. They're terribly subjective and most of the times have little to do with the work inquestion.

I'm finding it hard to believe that's the sole reason he got fired. Obviously, I'll never get the full story but I would suggest your friend ask why he was not selected to go beyond his probation.

Something along the lines of "In order to better myself for future job opportunities, could you please inform me of the aspects of my work performance I could improve upon?"

I was asked the same recently, as a woman I said "if you're hiring for gender instead of skill I'm working for the wrong company it seems.

Pissed off my evaluator immensely, they forwarded my case to executive level, who re-interviewed me and asked if I'd like to rephrase my answer.
I said yes and handed him my notice.

Incentives and polarization to force a gender balance in jobs women clearly are rarely interested in, is a slap to the face of any man or woman who worked their ass off to get the same position that is now being seemingly handed out with ease so long as you at least identify as a woman and can fulfill a quota.

Fuck em.

Your friend was in no way wrong and this is discriminatory. Sadly "progressives" are perfectly fine with discrimination when it serves their own purposes. Strangely enough I happened to be watching the latest Sargon video ridiculing this movement:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hFnd6IS0DrY

Some background:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zH0mPfR-K2U

The thing that terrifies me the most about this collectivist neo-progressive movement is how it is reducing people to their genitals, skin color, orientation and other aspects of their identity while ignoring individual merit. I also find it terrifying that it is corrupting so much of the left wing, displacing what remains of classical liberalism, the ideology that defines western civilization.

Edit: I forgot to mention, I myself have witnessed women getting preferential treatment in both the IT industry and mining. It kind of made sense in the mine due to insurance issues but the quotas cropping up in tech industries are comepletely unwarranted.

As an employment attorney, I see nothing wrong with the response - it appears to say that men and women should be treated equally and judged on the merits. I do not practice in England, however. Also, you say that you don't know his response verbatim.

If this was truly his response and if they told him that it was because of that response that they are asking him not to stay on, then I could see how this could be turned against them as discriminating against male, which I think England prohibits. This might however be difficult to prove. I also find it difficult to understand that they would use a question that he answered in confidence as a basis for firing (which they did if they asked him to leave)

I could also see how one could make the argument that the answer was confidential and gender neutral, and therefore the real reason for the request that he leave must be something else.

Having said all that, I am not an expert on English employment law (and also, you say he is not an employee...). I would fight this (if doing so doesn't mean that marks him somehow in the eyes of other employers because this gets around).

It's gotta be more than that... To be 'fired' largely on that question and answer seems wrong. I feel like that shouldn't even be a question. It should be on the person and their skill, not their gender... : / It shouldn't be about fulfilling a status quo...

On one hand hiring people without much regard to skill can be bad practice.

One the other hand there are many advantages to working with a diverse group of people.

As of all things, you have to find a balance.

You're a badass. I'm glad I came into this thread just to read your post.

what kind of weird country do you live in , to get denied job by this?