Telecom is actually a very bright option when considering  an E & C grads, because its  has flavous of both embedded and software. To my knowledge i have not come across a gender prefernce till date in this sector, but that also depends on where u r trying for a job for example if u r working for a service provider at customer sites its normally physical to some extent, but if ur job is in an product based organisation it really doesn't matter which gender ur till u r smart enough.

                 Entry level, i think its best to look for testing or support kind of job profile which will give u zest of the system first. Telecom is a very vast domain so make sure you mention the word "telecom" occasionally