Why do companies shortlist women for interviews if they only want male candidates in the end?

Just need to rant about this absurd job interview process I went through lately for a Hardware and Networking Engineer role.

They took a basic aptitude of simple mathematical questions and LR in which I needed 7 correct out of 10 questions. And I was successful. They called me in their office the next day and it started with a 25 minute HR round, then a full hour waiting around because multiple candidates were there. Next was a 1 hour aptitude assessment with 100 questions covering logical reasoning, quant, English comprehension and coding MCQs. After the test, I had to wait another 20 to 30 minutes just for the results. Then came a 30 minute personality test, followed by another 20 minute wait, and finally, a 10 minute essay writing session. All of these tests were well proctored and conducted by Mettl Mercer, so it could have easily been done from home. For some reason they made us come in person, which just ate up more time and travel expenses.

Cleared these rounds so I was asked to come in after a few days, that day there was a 45 minute technical interview round, and after that, there was another round with their HR manager.

And after all that effort, it was only in the final HR round that the manager suddenly brought up that they "prefer male candidates" (because the role apparently is physically demanding sometimes, which I think I was well aware of because I CHOSE TO GET A DEGREE IN THE RELATED SPECIALIZATION).

Again this was never mentioned anywhere in the jd. They could have told me in the first round or at least in the initial HR screening, not after putting me through this whole routine. I mean why even shortlist me if I wasn't what they wanted? To top it off, after the final round, I did not get any update for 15 days. I kept calling the receptionist, tried to contact HR, emailed them several times. Nothing. The only time they finally replied was when I sent them a subtly cryptic feedback email cc-ing their entire hiring team including the higher ups, out of frustration on the 15th day. I mean at least have the decency not to leave people hanging forever like that.

Honestly, their communication was terrible, both internally and with candidates. It felt completely unprofessional.The cherry on top? They admitted my profile was strong and liked my technical knowledge and enthusiasm. I have two 6 month R&D internships at major government organizations. Yet they chose the guy who only had a content writing internship, simply because he was a guy and fit their unstated requirements (I know he got selected because we talked during our interview process and made a connection on LinkedIn).

Anyone else experienced this kind of outdated or unprofessional hiring? Should I stop looking for jobs in my field because companies would prefer male candidates instead of me?