My take, for what very little its worth, is that now is probably one of the better times to be a female comedy writer in terms of exposure, but not necessarily in terms of being appreciated. It's all a bit flash-in-the-pan, even if you reach the very top of the strata. Networks, studios, production companies etc. are constantly on the lookout for female-written/-led comedy now, and they make a big fuss about it as well. The problem is, as with the vast majority of all comedy written, a lot of it is utter shite. My guess would be that fewer women, on average, go into comedy as a career than men do. I think that's still the way it is, maybe that's changing. But along with that, there will also be a lower quantity (not percentage) of female-written comedy that's any good. It's not about the hit-ratio or inherent talent or aptitude of each gender, it's purely about numbers.
But there are active efforts to pick up female-written/-led comedy shows because, cynical as it may sound, it's good for marketing at the moment. There's not a female-written comedy show I can think of where that hasn't been a significant part of the press angle. My worry is that by actively aiming for artificial quotas like this, which are rarely predicated on a genuine concern for quality, it'll only encourage people to watch shite comedy and then blame its shiteness on the fact that it had female writers, especially if they're already that way inclined. That's the issue I had with the incessant promotion of people like Amy Schumer and Chelsea Handler as sort of renegade female comedy icons - the quality was poor, and as such the very people you're ostensibly trying to sway grow even more certain in their beliefs that "women aren't funny" or whatever it is. There are, of course, great female comedy minds out there, but they're generally not the sort who would be able to/want to take advantage of these quotas anyway. The best things tend to come from someone beating the odds in one way or another, and I think the history of great female-written/-led comedy bears me out on that - most of it didn't come from initiatives such as these.
The other thing is ... this is ITV comedy, fucksake. The most this initiative means is that there'll be more female names attached to terrible comedy shows. I don't know if that'll help matters. There are a lot of other things I could mention about how the climate and attitude towards breaking into the entertainment industry has changed in general, and how it does have some bearing here, but that's a broader topic.