The Shriver Report by Heather Boushey & Ann O’Leary

Author:Heather Boushey & Ann O’Leary
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Free Press
Published: 2009-07-15T00:00:00+00:00

No “old girl” networks

The second major problem faced by working women pertains to all women, not just those with significant dependent care issues. The famed “old boy” network doesn’t really exist for women in most companies. Such networks are critical to forging relationships with mentors, sponsors, and other important social connections that facilitate work effectiveness and career development. Informal networking also fosters collaboration and social support and enhances relationships. 24 Yet many women, and African American women in particular, have difficulty networking with individuals at higher levels of the organization, particularly if those individuals are predominantly white and male (which, most of the time, they are). 25

A lot of companies right now are so focused on cost cutting that they are really forgetting about benefits, whether it’s flexibility benefits, good internal communications—you know, the whole notion of mentoring employees and motivating them and reaching out to people. This is all stuff that five years ago I thought was finally beginning to happen in American business.

Esther in Silicon Valley

In their study of black and white professional women, University of South Africa Professor Stella Nkomo and Dartmouth Professor Ella Bell found that only 59 percent of African American women in the United States reported having white men in their professional networks. The women in their study explained that informal networking is the key to visibility in the workplace and that without access there are limited opportunities for growth and advancement.

White women also struggle to navigate informal networks in organizations that are particularly male-dominated. Without formal mechanisms for women and minorities to become a part of the network, this can remain a significant impediment to progress. Exclusion from informal aspects of the organization can often leave women feeling isolated and disconnected from their peers, work, and institutions. Seemingly simple things such as joining colleagues for happy hour are often impossible for caregiving women, while single women face barriers to socializing with their married male colleagues or supervisors because of misconceptions that may arise, or due to the fact that these are often couples-only events.

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