what will actually work as an effective measure
Redesign the system such that the whole question becomes irrelevant.
I don't see anyone championing for "equality" in undesirable arenas. The example was given previously, most garbage workers are men. Feminists don't usually complain about the unfairness of that because it's typically regarded as undesirable work. More often they complain about lack of women in executive positions, for example, because those are typically regarded as
desirable positions. They not really interested in equality. They're using perceptions of inequality as a tool to manipulate people into giving them
what they want.
Well, having what you want is basically reasonable.
So, I propose we redesign society so that people can generally have want they want. You're generally less likely to be unhappy about "inequality" or that somebody else has something better or more, if you have what you want.
Men and women competing with each other for positions/resources/etc that are perceived as scarce is wholly an unhealthy situation. So, solve the scarcity problem. Stop worrying about gender issues. Redesign society so that women are never in the position of having to put up with a husband they don't want in order to keep their children fed. Redesign society so that men are never afraid of marriage because they stand to lose half of their possessions. Redesign society so that people simply
don't care whether more men or more women are sitting in executive boardrooms.
Stop trying to address the symptoms rather than the cause. The cause is not most of what people are complaining about. The root cause is scarcity. Solve scarcity. Automate all the undesirable work. Automate the production of most things. Automate all the service work and delivery work and cleaning work and menial work, and have the fruits of that automation so abundant that nobody is very inconvenienced by survival and procurement issues. Sure, people will still compete over positions of prestige. Being able to say you're a corporate attorney or on the board of a fortune 100 company will have value to some people. And people might still compete for those limited positions.
But you'll solve
most of the problem if money is no longer a driving force in society and the whole question of which group has the greater portion of high paying positions becomes a non sequitor because anybody can pretty much have any material thing they want without having to dedicate their lives to procuring it.