Honoring Women’s History Month: How Womxn+ Evolves Our Culture of Inclusion

These are unprecedented times, but throughout history women have prevailed to create positive change during times of hardship — and we are proud that this is evident here and now, at Splunk. 

As we honor many influential and powerful women during Women’s History Month for their strength and achievements, we are also taking our own steps forward with a rebrand that upholds those same ideals of equality and inclusivity. Our diverse and largest employee resource group (ERG), Women@Splunk wanted to evolve. After numerous conversations, strategic planning sessions and creative exercises, I’m happy to share with you a new name that reflects a broader vision: Womxn+ @Splunk.

Why Womxn+ ?

Making meaningful shifts often starts by becoming more intentional around language. It made sense, then, to choose a name for the ERG that reflected a broader and more inclusive scope of the community it represented. With that in mind, the ERG’s leadership team kept coming back to two essential questions: How do we ensure that our efforts are more inclusive of all Splunkers? And how do we partner with our fellow ERGs to jointly advance our mission around intersectionality? Both were goals that the group wanted to incorporate directly into its vision and culture.

By definition, the word “womxn” — an alternate spelling to “women” — not only includes cis women, but trans women, non-binary people, people of color and female-identified individuals. 

It also conveys that womxn are their own free and separate entities.

Naming the group Womxn+ extends that inclusivity to allies and others. Engaging allies from other minority and majority groups is the best way to affect meaningful and lasting change. And as the first and largest ERG at the Data-to-Everything company, it’s a way of acknowledging and embracing everyone’s million data points. It also calls attention to the discrimination and institutional barriers that womxn and other minority groups have historically faced and continue to endure. 

Strength in Numbers

While Womxn+ might start with the language of inclusion, our ERG also walks the talk by extending it throughout our workforce and beyond our walls.

At Splunk, we’re lucky enough to have networks of allies that publicly support women and underrepresented groups.. And we’re grateful that they can use their influence to drive inclusion and increase diverse participation throughout Splunk and our communities. 

ERGs such as Black Employees and Mentors (BEAMs), Pride and many others all have passionate and diverse teams of friends and supporters who champion the new Womxn+ ERG, their causes and provide a helping hand at their events.

In addition to continually building upon inclusion in our own environment, we aim to further expand our network by incorporating customers, suppliers and business partners into our efforts. As we increase our network of allies, we will set the stage for partnerships that will help move the needle on inclusivity throughout the industry.

A More Inclusive Future

Women have strong and growing representation on the Splunk board, our senior leadership teams and our staff. They’re also inciting change as ERG leaders, where they’re continuing to speak out, break down barriers and create new normals around equality and inclusion in the industry.

During this Women’s History Month, finding new ways to be more inclusive will be a powerful nod to the women before us who worked tirelessly to achieve acceptance and equality. While we have a lot of work to do, we are proud to be a part of this passionate push forward, and are excited to help pave the way for future generations of womxn. In this time of unprecedented uncertainty and change our Womxn+ @Splunk ERG continues to forge ahead with an ambitious and more inclusive path forward. 

----------------------------------------------------
Thanks!
Suzanne McGovern