With a Little Help from Another Woman: Female Networking and the Professional Networking Divide

Abstract

This paper illustrates women’s networking patterns at female-only events. Existing research has emphasized structural challenges (e.g., network position, and network type) as well as women’s individual networking behaviors as issues that hinder female networking success in comparison to men. Yet, insufficient attention has been given to the mechanisms underlying female networking. In this study, we inductively investigate women-only networking events, which are specifically set up to promote women’s careers. Drawing on extensive interviews, observations and archival data, we find that proactive networking in such settings paradoxically can lead to the emergence of the female professional networking divide that hinders social capital accumulation. Our findings advance theorizing on networking, social capital, and female careers. First, we offer a grounded theory model that reveals the female professional networking divide as an underlying mechanism impacting the success of women-only events. We also show how this divide may become less salient. Second, we provide a nuanced view on the relationship between female networking and the attainment of social capital. Third, we theorize that female networking is embedded in and may even reproduce gendered organizations instead of decreasing gender inequality.