Studies Show

Survey: Women Doubt Other Female Coworkers Can Get Them Promotions

So much for sisterhood? A new study shows that women don’t have all much faith in their in-office comrades.

Efforts to promote female mentorship and networking in the workplace may be for naught, according to a survey of 268 middle- to senior-level businesswomen (okay, so it’s not the U.S. Census or anything) at the Simmons College Leadership Conference. The biggest gripe among women co-workers? They don’t think their peers have the power to promote each other.

According to Patricia Deyton, faculty director for the Center for Gender in Organizations and the co-author of the study, women were more likely to see promotion from outside their own circles:

“When time, resources, and efforts are devoted to creating a women’s network, supported by top management–one that that delivers well-organized and specific programming–it has an impact… The study confirms that it’s simply beyond the scope of women’s networks alone to address the subtle cultural barriers that often impede women’s ability to ascend to leadership positions.”

So it has less to do with women not trusting each other and more to do with women not believing their companies really value women’s groups. That’s… encouraging?

TAGS: women at work | women networks

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