Women executives must build broader and more influential networks than men to reach positions of power

It is nothing new. The higher up one goes in the executive hierarchy, particularly on companies’ Boards of Directors, independent directors are chosen largely on the basis of relationships of trust. It is therefore not surprising that the report highlights the importance of informal relationships in selection processes.

Networking is a leadership competence through which different types of relationships can be developed, ranging from more instrumental connections to those linked to a shared mission or purpose. Women, in general, tend to be less inclined than men to engage in professional networking. It is therefore not surprising that the study identifies women’s professional and social networking as a factor contributing to their success in their career paths.

The research conducted by Yuhao Zhou, Wenhao Chen, Matthew Davison and Cristián Bravo, from the Department of Statistical and Actuarial Sciences at Western University (Canada), together with María Óskarsdóttir, from the School of Mathematical Sciences at the University of Southampton (United Kingdom) and the Department of Computer Science at Reykjavík University o(Iceland), analyses the relationship between professional networks and gender disparities in board appointments, focusing on publicly listed Canadian companies. The study confirms the existence of a glass ceiling effect: women serving on these boards need to build broader and more influential networks than men in order to reach comparable positions of influence—even when, and this strengthens both the study and its findings, their demographic characteristics and professional trajectories are similar. It is also important to highlight the prominent role of connections among women in their mutual advancement. As the authors note, this study contributes to a broader debate on corporate governance and gender diversity, emphasising the need for inclusive networking and mentoring initiatives to reduce existing barriers.

To draw these kinds of conclusions and propose inclusive initiatives aimed at social transformation and improvement, it is essential that the objectives are clearly defined and that the methodology is appropriate and rigorous. In this article, all these conditions are met and articulated in a well-supported and innovative manner. On the one hand, the authors use data on more than 19,000 senior executives and board members across more than 700 companies over a period of more than twenty years (2000–2022). On the other hand, they combine social network analysis with a causal learning framework and long short-term memory (LSTM) models, using artificial intelligence to examine how networks act as facilitators and/or barriers to achieving gender diversity in leadership.

The fact that this article has been published in Patterns also attests to its quality, as the journal is highly selective and seeks to publish work that offers significant advances and has broad interdisciplinary interest. Moreover, the article aligns closely with the journal’s aims, as Patterns promotes the publication of computational, data-driven research from all fields, including work engaging with issues related to ethics, philosophy and science policy.

Finally, and by no means a minor detail, I would like to highlight how the title itself captures the content of the article, its results and its conclusions in a precise and revealing way. Indeed, the authors uncover gender disparities in corporate board career trajectories through the use of deep learning. In this respect, the study provides an excellent basis for designing interventions that can facilitate better gender representation in leadership. This work represents a significant step forward in leadership studies in general, and in gender research in particular. As we noted in an article published a decade ago, the leadership capacity shown by women does not stem from supposed 'feminine' traits, but rather from a process of early learning and educational success in which the phenomenon often referred to as sisterhood plays an important role. In this study, that sisterhood is evidenced through the connections women establish with one another to support their own advancement and that of other women.

Although the study is based on a broad and representative dataset, its main limitation lies in the fact that it offers a snapshot of the reality of publicly listed companies in Canada. Therefore, any generalisation of its conclusions should be treated with caution. Nevertheless, it does provide relevant reflections on the development of the professional careers of men and women as they progress towards board-level positions.

The study suggests that women tend to rely more on social networks and on direct connections with other board members in order to reach leadership positions. This finding is consistent with previous research highlighting the importance of social capital and professional networks in selection processes for senior roles. In this way, the study confirms that the glass ceiling continues to exist, and that initiatives such as women’s executive networks or mentoring programmes among women may represent important avenues for challenging this structural reality.

In conclusion, this study offers further evidence that circles of influence in the corporate world remain predominantly male. For this reason, women appear to need broader and more diversified networks in order to reach positions similar to those held by men, in other words, more effort for the same role.