HRGuru

I think this is a misconception, but it would be interesting to see the numbers. Maybe your husband's right; us females do work better with people. :)

amazingly, I hadn't noticed that there were more women in that field until you mentioned it and I started getting a mental picture of all of the offices that I've been in association with recently.  Women.  Almost 100%.  So, I would say that this is definitely food for thought.  Now, on this site, joining up with different friends, I've noticed a high number of men.  But I still have to say that it seems to me that the majority in the field are women.  I agree with Hawkeye that women are more in tune to the qualities that are needed to be truly effective in the field, whereas men seem to deal better with the numbers.  This is an interesting question.  I'll bet there are a couple of the men on this site who could offer an answer!

Hi there,

As a man I have noticed that at least in my area HR is full of women. I've always wondered why there is such a gender disparity in our field. I tend to think its because women often have better percived communication skills and since HR is so deeply rooted in various forms of communication it tends to be a natural fit for many women. I hope in the future both men and women will see HR as a viable career that is strategic, engaging, and rewarding.

What is life without a little controversy and food for thought?    I'm going to stick my neck out here and share with you my observations on this issue.  Mind you, these are observations, not proven facts by statistics, etc.  Some of it is tongue-in-cheek.

First, let me let you know I'm 53 years old.  This is important when you are thinking of the trend of women in HR.   I'm also more of an "analytic/expressive," with Amiable being very high too,in the personality styles of Analytic/Driver/Amiable/Expressive quadrants.

Some 33 years ago when I entered the business real world I never saw a women in Personnel or OD.   The word "human resources" was non-existent.   Personnel that I saw was filled with men who were mean, nasty, almost evil people that make Catbert look cuddly.   They were filled with animosity, knew nothing of business and usually came around to measure efficiency and move the copier 2 steps closer to the cubicles that needed it the most.  Efficiency experts.  Scientific stuff, or so they said.  They wrote handbooks and were always there when the police showed up to arrest emloyees who stole from the business.  Nobody ever wanted to talk to the personnel guy!

Some few years later new business trends seem to indicate that people were a big part of the business equation and were actually something valuable. Moreover, it was actually lawsuit verdicts that made execs aware that employees, if not cared for, could actually cause a lot of harm to the business.  So, many of them tried figuring out what they should do about this.  They figured employees need to coddled, cuddled, and to have their hands held.  They need to be nurtured.  Who better to nuture than a woman, whose nature is to nurture, right?  

Now HR was equally filled with either mean old nasty men who went around creating havoc and dispair among employees or with women who really had no strategic function but were hired to merely make employees "feel good" and to give a sense the employer cared about its employees.    HR became a haven to send that troublesome woman manager or administrative assistant to so they could be seen as being part of management but really have no input or worth (other than what they themself created for their employees).        

Soon everyone in HR was in a panic.  It was ineffective, not appreciated, underpaid, under utilized and overburdened with senseless duties.  Those few men in HR, who were not so mean and nasty and who actually valued employees often knew how the business ran.  Since they didn't want to hold employee's hands due to the newly emerging harassment laws, they decided the best place to hang their shingle was in training.  Here they could interact with real employees and help make the business better and not have to listen to all the employee whining.

An in the last 10 years, HR is yet again in a transformational stage.   It is still suffering from a lack of respect.  Part the employers of the world consider HR as a nothing, give it no budget, don't invite it to board meetings, feel it is the perfect place for picnic planning and newsletters, scheduling interviews and have employee "feel good" meetings.  My fear is that more women in HR are reflective of this vision of the HR role and function.     The other part of the world's employers realize that HR can be a strategic business partner.  I'm not sure the men of old fell into this category.  This part of the world believes that either a man or a woman is best for the job.  Either one is capable if they have the right skill sets.  They need to have a desire to help people, a talent for teaching, a knack for turning compliance into simplistic duties that don't interfere with running a business profitably, they need to be able to read financial statements, understand how a product is produced and sold and to determine what types of SKAs are necessary to build and sell that product/service.  They need to be good listeners and to truly care about people.  We still have a long way to go though.  Too many men and women at the top spot of HR in their organization are not attending board meetings on an on-going basis.    We must all do better.

(Ok, you can beat me up on this world view if you want to.  I may deserve it and I can take the heat.  Just carefully justify why you think a woman (or a man) is better than the other to do this role.   If women are inherently better than men in some areas then you will have to agree that men are inherently better than women in other areas and all this feminism training has as an underlying principle that gender has nothing to do with talent, people should be genderless when it comes to considering them for any job and I'd hate to think that HR professionals have a gender bias towards those who are the most capable in the HR field.)

My take on this topic does not come statistically either.  Though it does seem there are more female names out there right now I have been in contact with male counterparts as well. 

My personal point of view is I prefered a mixed HR team compared with a pure female team though I have worked in the right environment where a 3 female HR team worked well.  And I must admit my mentor was a wonderful HR Director Paul Staub.  The great part is even though he retired I can contact him anytime I want and bounce problems and possible solutions off of him. 

Ok, certainly not a scientific study but:

I just started teaching my Compensation and Incentives class for Cal State University Northridge (Los Angeles, CA).   We have 35 students in this class which is a mandatory class for the HR Certificate program.   33 Women, 2 men.