How three corporations crafted organizations for female employees that have an actual impact
Corporate women's networks frequently get a bad rap--for good reason. The groups frequently toil on the fringes, hosting "lunch and learns" and book clubs that rarely provide the skills or exposure women need to rise in the ranks. Often, "these initiatives are run by people who don't really have much power," notes Claudia Peus, a visiting scholar at Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Sloan School of Management. When she interviewed more than 900 female executives about critical factors in their success, they ranked programs for the promotion of women last. "The spontaneous reaction was, 'They don't work.'"
Yet such initiatives are flourishing. One reason is an eagerness on the part of talent-hungry employers to appear more female-friendly. Networks are cheap, usually relying on female volunteers and garnering little corporate funding. The groups may become little more than social gatherings, and have trouble attracting heavy hitters.
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