There’s been an explosion in the number of networking groups for women out there, and it shouldn’t surprise anyone.
The business and work worlds have been dominated by men since the beginning of time so can you blame women for wanting their own Good Old Girls network?
Well, some guys want in on the all-gal party. What’s this world coming to? Should men be allowed?
I recently got an email from a spokeswoman for Commercial Real Estate Women network, or CREW, a national industry network for….women.
The group is
“aimed at furthering women in its industry, and has a number of programs that run ‘from cradle to grave’ to help women enter and advance their commercial real estate career success and prospects. The association offers its members professional development, networking, and several programs to encourage women, as young as high schoolers, to enter this male-dominated profession.”
Given this credo you’d think the last thing these women want is a male amongst them.
Well, it turns out men are not keeping their distance.
“In Cincinnati,” the CREW spokeswoman said, “we have a male board member, who joined the women’s organization as a way to further his own career, which I thought was an interesting marketing method. He is a male in a female dominated association, in a male dominated profession. Some may think it odd, but it’s really pure genius in this challenging market - professionals must do what they can to network and stand out!”
In fact, the group has a total of 272 male members, 14 who hold board member positions at local chapters.
Isn’t the whole point of women’s groups to bring together just women so they can help each other? Clearly, the idea of all-gal groups is catching on. WomenEntrepreneur.com’s Carol Tice talked about the growing trend in a June article:
When it comes to networking, apparently, men really are from Mars and women from Venus. In this post-feminist era, you’d think co-ed networking would work fine, but many women business owners say they prefer to stick to their women-only groups.
In the past decade or so, there’s been a boom in women’s groups that mirrors the growth in the number of woman-owned businesses
But now men want to horn in on it. Why? They can always go play golf and run the world without us.
CREW folks think having men among them is a good thing.
“Until men and women gain a better comfort level of working together and understanding how the differences we bring to the deal table can complement one another, we’re going to continue to work off of antiquated stereotypes and preconceived notions.”
A good point, but I can see the benefits of an all-female network.
I’m writing a column now for MSNBC.com on how bitchy women can be to each other when it comes to helping each other with career development or job help, so the fact that women’s groups are on the rise gives me hope.
Will my high hopes be dashed if men infiltrate their ranks? Next thing you know, these guys are going to want to come with us to watch bad “Sex and the City” movies.
June 17th, 2010 at 10:09 am
Kinda sounds like the Hooters legal debate - are men allowed to don the pantyhose and hot pants if only for the sake of equality. Men and women are equal yet different. This is just a different aspect of seeking and finding employment, and the women should pursue their interests without a man “donning on pantyhose and a bra” and intruding in on the group’s dynamics. In other words, there are times when a rooster needs to stay out of the hen house.
June 17th, 2010 at 10:16 am
Eve, I wonder if you would look favorably upon efforts by men to create men’s career advancement groups akin to those being created by professional women. In my experience, any time (in recent decades) men have tried to establish “men-only” or “man-focused” groups or endeavors, they’ve garnered much opposition from women’s groups.
Remember when many athletic clubs and exercise salons were “men-only”? I remember when women sued for the right to join those clubs, because they discriminated on the basis of gender. Yet, in the past year or so, I’ve heard numerous news pieces on fitness clubs that are being set up for women only.
I acknowledge that the realtors’ group you cited in your post allows men to participate, but it still makes me wonder if similar efforts by men (focused on other males) would be accepted or scorned.
June 17th, 2010 at 10:28 am
Not sure if I love you comparing women’s groups to hen houses, but I’m down with your argument David.
I get the discrimination argument HikingStick, but if a group dominates the business world it’s hard to argue that keeping men out of a women’s networking group will change that…not in the near future.
June 17th, 2010 at 10:58 am
I’ll throw a hot potato out there and wait for all of the push back. We have the NAACP. What if someone decided to start a NAAWP? Which group would be viewed as racist and which group would be viewed as legitimate? Some groups can have their cake and eat it too.
June 17th, 2010 at 11:48 am
My apolgies, in advance, for taking the bait, setting up my soap box, and pursuing a tangent…
Groups like the NAACP were established to compensate for societal bias that favored (favors) the established order (as typically characterized as while-male-dominated). I’ve encountered people over the years who claim I, as a white male, have an unfair advantage in our society. While I understand what they’re pointing to (a history of institutional racism and established corporate structures primarily controlled by white men), I have a hard time accepting the argument, since I’m a child of an immigrant.
My father was of German descent, born in Russia, and considered part of the peasant class. His family was decimated by the NKVD (the secret police agency of the day), his father shipped off to a Gulag, and a brother and sister were carried off. He fled for his life with his mother and one sister, eventually making it to the United States and settling in Chicago. Our life has been anything but a life of privilege (though one could argue that almost everyone living in our nation has a priviledged life). I’m the only of his five sons to complete post-secondary education, and I did it primarily by taking on debt (i.e., student loans). After early, failed attempts at attending college, I earned my degrees as an adult learner, working full time, or even two jobs, while carrying a full-time course load in an adult program (evenings and weekends). I’ve spent most of the past decade completing my baccalaureate degree and then pursuing a graduate degree. I’ll likely be making student loan payments until I die (even with the recent changes, since I’m not sure if my earlier student loan debt will qualify for the new programs).
If anything, my father’s limited language skills and thick accent (once English was learned) were as much barriers to his advancement and opportunities as are the characteristics of any other minority group. In fact, he also fell under suspician(as did many German people) in the post-war period of being a Nazi simply because of his ethnicity (something about which even I was teased when in elementary school). Then, once the Cold War began in earnest, he was ostracized for having been born in Russia (as were my brothers and I, once his birthplace was known). In fact, after I took top marks on the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery (ASVAB) while looking at a military career, I was told there were only two primary roles I could not fill in the armed services: 1) pilot (because I wore corrective lenses), and 2) intelligence operative. I was told I could not pursue a role in military intelligence solely because my father was born in Russia. In the face of that discriminatory stance (even if well-reasoned at the time), I opted against serving in the military.
I could see the establishment of an organization for women that would be similar to the NAACP, perhaps the “National Association for the Advancement or Working Women (NAAWW)” but I believe it’s success would be limited by other factors outside of its control. So long as any such “advancement” group focuses on providing opportunities and benefits for its members, rather than placing blame on others, I’m all for them.
June 17th, 2010 at 12:06 pm
At the risk of being stoned to my blogging death, I would offer up that there are clear differences between how each gender networks just like there are clear differences in how we behave and act. The more that we can mix things up, such as what your CREW example has effectively shown, the better everyone becomes collectively…My personal experience, and this is not scientific by any means, has been that women are great detail-oriented thinkers who are willing to suggest others to talk to as well as provide input on ways to improve effectiveness. But when it comes to putting their reputation on the line via real action and valuable introduction, they tend to shy away more than men.
June 17th, 2010 at 3:03 pm
Hikingstick, you are a very eloquent writer. Well done!