French is the same, any group of things (not just people) with mixed gender will normally be referred to as "ils" or "le" but a group of all feminine things will be "elles" or "la". But it really doesn't have anything to do with the people being male or female, it's just whether the words are one category or other. It would be the same with a mixed group of carburetors and plants. A group of carburetors would be "ils", a mixed group of carburetors and plants would still be "ils", but a group of all plants would be "elles". French really doesn't have a system of animacy like English (or Japanese). Inanimate things are referred to exactly the same as animate ones.
Also fun, in French the word "personne" (which means about the same thing as "person" in English), is feminine, so you always say "la personne" even if "la personne" is a male. And if you have a group of "personnes" it's referred to as "elles" like a group of women, even if it's a group of men.
Of course, "la victime" is always feminine; doesn't matter if he/she is a guy or girl, it's always "la victime" and we should feel sorry for "elle" ("her").
The word "équipe" ("team") is feminine, so every World Cup, I have to get used to the announcers referring to all the soccer teams (all men) as "elles" again.
