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Network Logic - Index of

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Old boys and new girls<br />

Nevertheless, women’s networks are also a symptom <strong>of</strong> another,<br />

less celebratory aspect <strong>of</strong> women’s working lives. Alongside the<br />

unprecedented opportunities now available to them, women continue<br />

to experience gender-related disadvantage in their status in the<br />

workforce. For example, women working full-time earn on average<br />

18.8 per cent less than the average hourly earnings <strong>of</strong> male full-time<br />

employees. They make up just 9 per cent <strong>of</strong> directors in FTSE 100<br />

companies, 13 per cent <strong>of</strong> small business owners and 23 per cent <strong>of</strong><br />

top managers in the civil service, 5 yet account for 79 per cent <strong>of</strong><br />

administrative and secretarial occupations. 6 At the same time women<br />

continue to work a ‘second shift’ by taking on the lion’s share <strong>of</strong><br />

domestic work and childcare. 7<br />

In their modus operandi women’s networks hold a mirror up to this<br />

phenomenon <strong>of</strong> growing opportunity and persisting inequality.<br />

While celebrating women’s achievements and advancements, many,<br />

either explicitly or implicitly, hold women’s continuing underrepresentation<br />

and lack <strong>of</strong> progression in their chosen field as major<br />

points <strong>of</strong> reference. Underlying this position is the normative<br />

assumption that women are disadvantaged relative to men in building<br />

successful careers, and this basic narrative <strong>of</strong> inequality is what thus<br />

justifies the existence <strong>of</strong> women-centred initiatives, such as networks.<br />

To this extent, women’s networks might be accurately described as<br />

‘feminist’ organisations, although few would choose to describe their<br />

activities in these terms. Indeed, this distancing from the ideological<br />

legacy <strong>of</strong> second-wave feminism may well be one <strong>of</strong> the greatest<br />

strengths <strong>of</strong> women’s networks, in that they provide a model <strong>of</strong><br />

affiliation and mutual support which has wide appeal, especially to<br />

younger women.<br />

Old boys and new girls<br />

A concern with the position <strong>of</strong> women in the labour market is not<br />

unique to women’s networks, and is shared with any number <strong>of</strong><br />

policy-makers, academics and pressure groups working in this field. It<br />

remains to be asked then: what is special or distinctive about peer-topeer<br />

networks as an organisational form for achieving change in this<br />

Demos 121

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