Why We Need Women of HR

This first week of the new year we are featuring some of our top posts at Women of HR. Enjoy!

Tim Sackett doesn’t think we need a website called Women of HR.

Maybe he is right.

• We have the Equal Pay Act of 1963,
• the Civil Rights Act of 1964,
• Title IX,
• and the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act.

We’re not any closer to seeing the Paycheck Fairness Act come to life, but some say the gender gap in compensation is sorta closing.

Women comprise the majority of HR professionals. We own the function of HR even if we only represent a fraction of HR professionals who are responsible for a budget and have organizational authority to make decisions.

What more could we want?

According to Sackett, HR women don’t need special accommodations and we don’t need a calendar. We’re a majority. We should shut up and appreciate our status.

Except no one here at Women of HR is asking for an accommodation.

I don’t hear my colleagues requesting special treatment or a helping hand. We’re not asking for favors. No one wants something for nothing. We are a self-identified group of women who’ve joined together to talk about Human Resources, leadership, recruiting, and training.

That’s still legal in America, especially since we include men.

What I like about Women of HR is that it’s a unique example of technology, community, and conversation. This site includes HR professionals who are at the beginning of their careers and seasoned HR veterans who are thinking about their second acts. There are women from the recruiting community speaking to women from the technology community. And there are women who love Human Resources and women who hate HR coming together in single space to advance the profession.

Call it Women of HR or call it something else, but it’s unique and kind of revolutionary.

I think it’s also revolutionary that we didn’t crucify Sackett when he suggested that Women of HR wasn’t needed. If this website does anything, it shows that shortsighted opinions on gender and power will be carefully and respectfully considered by the majority. There were no shrill voices. There were no false cries of sensationalism or stereotypically aggressive responses.

There was nothing but good old-fashioned inclusion and debate.

Who says we don’t need that in Human Resources?