Gender in HR: Why Are More Women Being Preferred and What Does It Mean for People Management?

Dear Friends,

Another vibrant topic for debate/discussion: Who is better for HR - male or female? In the present environment where HR practices in corporate India have come of age, employers today are exhibiting a preference to employ more women in HR as compared to men. What do you think may be the reasons for this shift? What are the basic differences in approach of people management when it comes to men and women? Are females in HR successful? If so, why; if not, why not? Is it rewarding for organizations to employ females in HR?

You are welcome to participate in the debate/discussion.

Regards, Anil Kaushik Chief Editor - Business Manager - HR Magazine Smriti Sadan, 28-Raghu Marg, Alwar - 301001 (Raj.) India Mob.: 09829133699

Hi there, Mrs. Arya.

Hope this message finds you in the best of health and spirits.

Many of my managers told me about this site, and I thought of giving it a glance. I am working with a telecom MNC at a senior level in the HR department. I have more than 15 years of experience, half of which was in Dubai, Texas, and the rest in Bombay.

Your question, no offense and with all due respect, really annoys me. Anyone reading this reply, kindly do a serious introspection, especially the guys. I have seen this field very closely, gained knowledge, and nurtured myself after many years of extracting knowledge, as have many others.

Today, what I see in HR is females, and only females. Many times, I have seen female candidates chosen over males, even though the guy is more qualified, competent, experienced, etc., and all factors are in his favor. There was this one case for an AM-HR where the female's only asset was that she was a female and nothing else. I didn't see any reason why the guy should not be picked. Today, what I see, especially in the retail and service sector, is if you are a female and beautiful, you get the job. I have seen that females are perceived not to have any brains. They get selected by giving a nice smile to the recruiters, and since men will be men, they get fooled by those.

Secondly, they use this same smile to get their work done by their colleagues using their assets. If no one helps her, and since most of the HR females have no brains at all (this is a fact), they use this forum, and all the men here give all the help, advice, attach their data through Word and Excel files duly attached so that the damsel in distress may get help through us, and she gets paid 4-5 L p.a. for just smiling. The reason you see anger in these lines is that this has happened many times in three of the companies I have worked in, where the employee productivity was zero. When I resisted this, I was told to keep to my work. Obviously, my VP (married and 50) had an eye on her. I am an extroverted person, but this kind of nonsense really shows the reality of corporate females using their good looks to get the job, whereas deserving men are waiting to get a chance to prove their mettle.

AWAITING RESPONSE Amrith - Senior Manager - Company - Sector - Telecomm

Hi there, Mrs. Arya.

Hope this message finds you in the best of health and spirits.

Many of my managers told me about this site, and I thought of giving it a glance. I am working with a telecom MNC at a senior level in the HR department. I have more than 15 years of experience, half of which was in Dubai and Texas, and the rest in Bombay.

Your question, no offense and with all due respect, really annoys me. Anyone reading this reply, kindly do a serious introspection, especially guys. I have seen this field very closely, gained knowledge, and nurtured myself after many years of extracting knowledge, as have many others.

Today, what I see in HR is females, and only females. Many times, I have seen female candidates chosen over males, even though the guy is more qualified, competent, experienced, etc., and all factors are in favor of him, but the female gets picked. There was this one case for AM-HR wherein the female's only asset was that she was a female and nothing else. I didn't see any reason why the guy should not be picked up. Today, what I see, especially in retail and service sectors, is if you are a female and beautiful, you get the job. I have seen females being selected by giving a nice smile to the recruiters, and since men will be men, they get fooled by those.

Secondly, they use this same smile to get the job done, their own work done by their colleagues, using their assets. If no one is going to help her, and since most of the HR females have no brains at all (this is a fact), they use this forum, and all the men here give all the help, advice, and attach their data through Word and Excel files duly attached so that the damsel in distress may get the help through us, and she gets paid 4-5 L per annum for just smiling. The reason you see anger in these lines is because this has happened many times in three of the companies I have worked in, wherein the employee productivity was zero. When I resisted this, I was told to keep to my work. Obviously, my VP (married and 50) had an eye on her. I am an extroverted person, but this kind of nonsense really shows the reality of corporate females using their good looks to get the job, whereas deserving men are waiting to get a chance to prove their mettle.

Awaiting response.
Amrith - Senior Manager - Company - Sector - Telecom

HIT THE NAIL STRAIGHT ON THE HEAD, LITERALLY STOLE MY WORDS. My experience is the observation of females working in HR, mostly in Software, ITES, and BPO. It seems their promotion and appraisals depend on how little and how beautiful they dress and look. But as you mentioned, MEN are MEN and will be fooled and give in to the good looks of FEMALES. Because the truth is most females don't know and by using their beauty get their work done. And lots of other deserving candidates get rejected.

One thing for my proof is the nature of questions put up by many females in CiteHR and their designations of HR Executives, Senior Executives, and HR Managers. They deserve to be kicked out of their jobs, but we MEN ourselves who are PERVERTS and recruit females based on their looks, so the MEN equally are to blame.