How do women network?

A study by EuropeanPWN

Senior and international professional women were the target group for the survey How do women network?, that ran from March to May 2008 and gathered 310 participants.

The survey found that a typical senior international professional woman forms her networks primarily for social/personal reasons (e.g. meet new people, personal development), and secondly for business reasons (e.g. develop own business, meet new or potential customers). However, ‘advancing my career’, ‘finding a job’ and ‘integrating at work’ are at the top of the list of business reasons for networking.

A typical woman from the survey has on average 95 contacts in her paper address book, 398 contacts in her electronic address book, and 170 contacts through online social networks. She keeps in touch with her contacts five times a year, mainly through emails. Most of her contacts originate through work, followed by a school/university and clubs.

Our typical woman is rather reactive than proactive, answer positively to requests and likes to refer people. From time to time she gets in touch with her family or friends for business reasons.

Her preferred networks or clubs are those reserved for women, as well as online social and alumni networks. She is an active member in 2,18, and a passive member in 1,98 organizations.

LinkedIn and EuropeanPWN are preferred online networks for a typical woman surveyed, who also favours ‘medium engagement’, as well as ‘read, answer and occasionally post valuable information’.

Author: Cécile Demailly

Many findings in the survey were used in the latest publications Women@Work 10 & 11