Female Network Opportunities: Reflecting on the Place & Purpose of External Women-Only Networks

In recent decades there has been increasing emphasis placed on the benefit of women-only network opportunities within organizations, finding these environments to foster network strategies and professional outcomes that mitigate for gendered network inequalities. More recently there have been changes occurring in the landscape of External women-only network organizations, providing network opportunities though spaces, events, and socializing outside of traditional workplaces. The impact of these communities on network outcomes is yet to be captured with research. Our paper seeks to add an additional perspective by interviewing member-club and professional-oriented external women-only network members. Further, due to lack of research comparisons between external network organizations and Internal women-only networks, we set out to analyze differences between these networks regarding opportunity, member perception, and career outcomes. Results indicate that professionals engage in external women-only networks as extensions of pre-existing strategies, providing instrumental and expressive network benefits simultaneously. Additionally, external women-only network experiences are found to differ from internal networks in structure, ideology, and member diversity. Our paper provides encouraging feedback on the impact of external women-only network membership and takes the first step in using research to highlight differences between internal and external women-only networks to the benefit of all associated stakeholders.