my company says we can’t have a women-only event

[ResidentialBusiness]

This post was written by Alison Green and published on Ask a Manager.

A reader writes:

I’m facing an issue similar to one you’ve addressed before, but with the current political climate around DEI initiatives, I’m concerned your advice might have shifted.

I’m a woman in leadership at a U.S.-based company. We’ve been planning a company-sponsored off-site event for women in IT, inviting anyone who identifies as a woman. The agenda and speakers were carefully selected to foster career growth and camaraderie for women who work in tech.

Initially, the company was supportive, but now Legal says with current political goings-on there’s too much risk to limiting attendance to only women. To move forward, we would need to open the event to all employees in the department. In my view, companies have less legal responsibility to care about DEI after recent federal actions, but the fundamentals haven’t changed. Some men would be sour, but women in tech remain marginalized and the event is worthwhile. Still, given Legal’s position, we have to pivot.

Our options seem to be rebranding the event to make it open to all IT employees while still focusing on topics that resonate with women, or canceling it altogether. I’m struggling with how to preserve the event’s real value without losing its core purpose. I’m also struggling with how to approach this with the women organizing, I stand with them but this isn’t the hill I wish to die on today.

I’d really appreciate any advice or insights you might have.

You can still put on an event that focuses on women in IT without limiting who’s invited. Make it clear that everyone is welcome, but the topics will center around ways to recruit and support women in IT, a traditionally male-dominated field. Anyone can support and work on those goals. In fact, having male allies and discussing specific things they can do in support of those goals is a good thing.

If your legal team won’t even let you do that, then you have a much bigger problem — but it sounds like they’re just saying the invitations can’t be women-only, which is fine and doesn’t need to impede you at all.

And so people know: the Trump executive order on DEI defines prohibited conduct as discrimination or preferences based on race, sex, sexual orientation, religion, or national origin — which was already illegal, and has been illegal since the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Most of the rest of the executive orders only apply to the federal government itself and/or to federal contractors, not to other workplaces. It is still legal for private employers to address barriers and work to provide a level playing field for employees and candidates. Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, the main federal work anti-discrimination law, remains in effect and can only be rescinded by Congress.

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