Informal networks favor men, study finds
Source: Agencies |
August 18, 2010, Wednesday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
Informal networks at work are fostering inequality and preventing women from advancing their careers and breaking through the glass ceiling, according to new research in the United States.
Professor Gail McGuire, of Indiana University South Bend, found that women do not get the same assistance as men from informal connections in the workplace.
"We have laws that prohibit discrimination and enforce equal pay, but that only touches the surface," McGuire said. "We need to look at informal professional structures, not formal ones. These are the real sources of inequality."
McGuire, the chair of the department of sociology and anthropology at the university, evaluated informal networks at one of the country's largest financial services organizations with a nine-page survey of 1,100 employees.
Although women outnumbered men in the company, the guys still occupied higher positions in the firm. And the people in the top jobs, regardless of whether they were men or women, were more likely to help men rather than women further their careers through informal networks.
McGuire said the finding was consistent with other research that has shown that when women make it to the top, they adopt the dominant framework and ideas of their male counterparts.
"Even when they were connected to that high level person, women were less likely to get help in getting a promotion from that person than a similarly situated man," said McGuire.
Professor Gail McGuire, of Indiana University South Bend, found that women do not get the same assistance as men from informal connections in the workplace.
"We have laws that prohibit discrimination and enforce equal pay, but that only touches the surface," McGuire said. "We need to look at informal professional structures, not formal ones. These are the real sources of inequality."
McGuire, the chair of the department of sociology and anthropology at the university, evaluated informal networks at one of the country's largest financial services organizations with a nine-page survey of 1,100 employees.
Although women outnumbered men in the company, the guys still occupied higher positions in the firm. And the people in the top jobs, regardless of whether they were men or women, were more likely to help men rather than women further their careers through informal networks.
McGuire said the finding was consistent with other research that has shown that when women make it to the top, they adopt the dominant framework and ideas of their male counterparts.
"Even when they were connected to that high level person, women were less likely to get help in getting a promotion from that person than a similarly situated man," said McGuire.
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