Breaking the Myth that Human Resource is a Woman Centric Function:A Case Study

Abstract

The topic of the study was "Breaking the Myth: That Human Resource Is a Woman Centric Function". In a country like India where gender perceptions are fast changing, the objective of this study was to gather data in order to break the myth that Human Resource Management is a woman centric function and to show that it has now evolved as a function where men and women are at par. The topic was selected because Human Resource Management department is known to be the heart of an organization as it plays a key role in its establishment by recognizing the contribution of the employees towards building up the business. But there seems to be a widespread perception that human resource is a female oriented function since the qualities of an efficient human resource manager are considered to be feminine in nature. Due to this perception many a times men are discouraged from joining this field even if they are interested in it. To carry out the study, various means have been used which primarily include a detailed questionnaire to understand the opinions people possess about the human resource function. For the same 100 respondents were interviewed, 50 being working professionals and 50 being students perusing an MBA. The resultant findings state that Professionals and Students of the opinion that HR is not a women centric function and has equal opportunities for career development for both the genders. Both set of respondents feel that qualities required as an HR Professional are generic in nature and not specific to women as a group. The respondents also feel that there is a wide scope of career development in this field for both the genders.