I do know of one CEO whose personal opinion was against female recruits of certain ages. This was many years ago, and after the EU had introduced very generous maternity leave allowances. There were many more applicants than vacancies, so he could hide his feelings. To him it was quite simple, and this was before all the cadet & P2F stuff: you hire a mid-late 20's experienced female and within a couple of years she's on the baby train. The amount of time off required, on full pay, caused rostering problems and unwanted headaches. (no pun). Once that was over, a few months later it repeated itself. Put 6-10 of these in the mix and it was something he wanted to avoid.
Now, up steps an experienced captain, or one ready for command, late 30 early 40 lady with kids already in tow, and no problem. In she came.
One can understand his pure business thinking. To him was sad but true.