1) Women make a group to support women and their simply working together. Men have a support group for men and they’re sexist pigs.

2) You can have a black support group and they are helping each other. You have a white support group and you’re a racist pig.

“Even where I work now, there is a distinct old boys’ club. It might not be formal like Mapgirl’s networking group . . . ”

The reason it’s not formal is because if they made it formal they would be sued by the women support group for being sexist pigs.

There is a women’s networking group at work because the men don’t know where the mother’s room is for pumping breast milk. ’nuff said.

FWIW, there is a knitter’s group and a race-based groups as well. It’s what the employees formed for themselves with the support of the company, not company imposed. Heck, I’m an Oracle networking group too.

@Traciatim: Women don’t “get” a group while men aren’t allowed; a women’s group fills a need and doesn’t hurt anyone. And historically, there’s a reason the phrase “old boys’ club” is engrained in the lexicon. Men, and I’m not saying all men because obviously there are socioeconomic divides within the gender, have always had some form of the old boys’ club.

Even where I work now, there is a distinct old boys’ club. It might not be formal like Mapgirl’s networking group, but I guarantee you that no matter how smart, talented or accomplished a woman is, at the end of the day, she gets patted on the head, told what a good job she’s doing, and sent home while the boys make the real decisions. If a woman wants to succeed in that environment, she has to either join the (old boys’) club, or learn to network in some other form.

Men network differently than women, and I think the real relevant factor is that successful people network all the time. If women form a structured organization to accomplish the same aims that many businessmen achieve by networking on the golf range, in a bar, or after hours, I don’t see a reason for objection. Perhaps it’s because I’m a woman, perhaps it’s because I’m ambitious, or perhaps I recognize that if what I need doesn’t come naturally to me, I need to find a way to make it happen.

Whatever the case, I think that anyone who is willing to work, work hard and work smart is entitled to their achievements, assuming it’s not at the expense of others. And I don’t think that a women’s group falls under the category of “at the expense of others.”

Just a thought.