The Feminization of HR - Where Have You Been?

Did you read the lead story in Human Resource Executive? If you haven't you should and if you are surprised then you must have had your head in the sand for the past 30 years. I am really astonished that HRE would publish a lead story like that when it is so obvious that the HR field is and for the most part has always been dominated by women. The only major change in the last 20 years is that women have started to dominate the top level positions. And since this writing I would guess that they do dominate top spots today. 

I for one am not surprised and have seen the rise in women in management over my many years in the HR field. If you have been recruiting for a manager or director in the last 10-15 years you tell me how many male resumes you have seen come across your desk. Not many, and I have lived in the Northeast, Southeast, and Mid-west and the recruiting story is the same, more women than men. 

All that being said, I do think that women think very different than men on the fly and that is important in business. They make more rational full-view decisions in general. I give them credit and am not taken anything away from men and their decision making.

But, again, if you have been in HR this trend of women dominating HR has been going on for 30 years and will continue. I also think that there at some point needs to be a balance in the genders but how many men want to get into a women dominated field? For that matter, if I am not mistaken the US population is not more than 50% female. Correct????

Check out the lead story in the Human Resource Executive March 2012 issue.