Riot: this is why what you did was illegal. Yes, you CAN hire whoever you want, BUT...
You have to let everyone apply. You can't restrict a job application or a job fair (and your PAX panel was essentially a job fair) based on gender. You want to only hire women or non-binary folk? Cool, keep that to yourself, accept all the resumes/job applications/etc, and then when all the men leave, throw out the resumes from men.
If you post a job ad, you can't say "only women can apply." You have the right to hire whoever you want, but you have to let everyone apply. And then you go through all the resumes, and select the people you want (in this case, women), and call them back for an interview. Or in the case of a job fair (which is what your PAX panel was), you can have a job fair with the intention of only hiring women. But you have to let men into the job fair. And you can interview the men, smile at them, and take them through the whole process, even though you have no intention of calling them back and hiring them after they leave.
Well. I mean, technically you can't restrict hiring based on gender. But if you keep it to yourself, then no one can prove anything. You don't have to tell anyone you are only hiring women. And you don't have to tell the women that you hired them because they are women.
Here's an example: I am a white cis male. Despite what you may think, that actually disqualifies me from some jobs. One of those jobs? "Administrative assistant" (of which 96% are female). Here's a job ad for an administrative assistant: Indeed.com hyperlink. Notice that it doesn't say anywhere on the job application that only women can apply. I am free to apply to this job as a man. But due to stereotypes, there is a 96% chance that this company is specifically looking for a female, and will instantly trashcan my resume when they see that my name is "Jeff." But I can't prove this. And since I can't prove this, then they aren't technically doing anything wrong. However, if it said in the job ad that I must be female to apply (which is essentially what you did with your PAX panel), then that is a lawsuit waiting to happen. You have to let everyone apply. You cannot discriminate based on gender. After you receive the application, this is when you have the freedom to not choose them based on whatever reasons you want (and if those reasons are illegal, then you keep that to yourself and don't tell anyone). After you receive someones job application. Not before.
I have gone to job fairs (for anyone who doesn't know what a job fair is, it is basically "if you show up, we interview you"). I have known within the first 10 seconds that they had no intention of hiring me. But they still had to take me through the whole interview process. Even though they knew they had no intention of hiring me, they did not cut the interview short. They put on a fake smile, took me through the process, we would shake hands and say our goodbyes, and then my resume would go into the trashcan after I left. I'm a 30 year old dude who looks like a skinny 16 year old kid. I go to a job fair for a physical labour job. They look at my physical appearance and discriminate against me, and have no intention of hiring me because of how I look. But they don't tell me that, because then they would have a lawsuit on their hands.
@Riot: If you read through this, do you now understand why what you did is wrong? If you want to hire more women: that's fine, you are free to hire whoever you want for any reason. it's your business. But you can't restrict people from attending job fairs or submitting job applications based on their gender. You accept everyone, and then reject people for silly reasons. You want to host a PAX panel with the intention of hiring women and non-binary folk? Cool. Let everyone attend, and then select some women and non-binary folk and call them back for a 2nd interview.
@Everyone else: if you actually want to bring a lawsuit against Riot, the term you are looking for is "job fair." That part of the PAX panel where they looked at peoples resumes and stuff and answered questions about the job etc was a "job fair." They prevented you from entering a "job fair" because you were men.
