Magic Will Happen if You Gather Us in One Room: Gender Homophily and Women-Only Networking

Although networking is critical for career advancement, prior research has primarily examined women’s networking in comparison to men’s, often concluding that it plays a less instrumental role due to gendered organizational structures. Women-only networking events are organized to enable women to leverage gender homophily for mutual support and career advancement. However, the mechanisms of gender homophily in women’s networking are not straightforward. Drawing on observations of women-only networking events, interviews, and secondary data, we identify three meanings women attach to homophilic networking (status-driven, instrumental, and expressive) and show how these meanings shape networking behaviors. In networking contexts characterized by “enforced homophily,” where support is offered under the guise of benevolence, women are more aware of these differences in meanings, which prevent them from leveraging the potential benefits of networking with other women. In contexts characterized by “agentic homophily,” the relevance of these differences is less salient, empowering women to challenge, rather than reproduce, gendered organizational structures. Our research extends the understanding of gender homophily as a multifaceted force that is dynamically shaped by the context and interactions.