Professional networking is a powerful multitool for community building, productivity, and career success. For fans of the long-running BBC show Dr. Who, you can think of your network as the sonic screwdriver of your career. In the show, a sonic screwdriver could do anything narratively convenient that the Doctor needed it to do: send and receive signals, project holographic images, create force fields, disarm weapons, hack ATMs, and, yes, tighten and loosen screws. No matter your field of work or your stage of career, you can use networking to address a multitude of diverse goals or challenges.
Do you want a new job or a career change? Networking can help you do that. Stuck on a difficult work project or research topic? Networking can help un-stick you. Is your goal to establish an industry association, publish a book or article, find a new vendor, influence public policy, get additional funding for a project, start a business, or do you simply want a recommendation for a good local bakery? Networking can help you with all of that.
Networking can also help to tackle large, seemingly intractable problems. The shortage of women in STEM is one such problem. Women represent between 26%1 and 35%2 of the total STEM workforce in the United States and 29% of the global STEM workforce.3 A major contributing factor is the proverbial “leaky pipeline,” where women leave the STEM workforce at a much faster rate than men. In other words, the gender gap grows as workplace seniority increases. Reasons women give for leaving include feeling undervalued, having unsupportive managers, exclusionary workplace behaviors, and a lack of opportunities for advancement.4
The gender gap in STEM is reducing but very slowly. A 2018 study looked at the gender of last authors of scientific papers (representing the most senior author on the paper) and how that has changed over time.5 The study found that only 13% of last authors were women and that at the current rate of change, it will take 258 years for the gender gap to reach within 5% of parity—not actual parity, just close to parity—in the year 2276.
STEM has other inequities. In the US, 67% of STEM workers are white.6 Of STEM US federal workers in 2019, only 29% were women, and of those, only 34% were women of color, making women of color only 10% of the over federal STEM workforce.7 And just as gender inequity is a global issue, I’m sure many variations of this kind of dominant vs. minority group inequity exist throughout the world.
So, how can networking be used to approach such a persistent and pervasive problem?
First, a caveat. I won’t pretend that networking alone can solve something so complex and systemic. But networking can help, and the solution isn’t obvious. At least, it wasn’t to me.
My awakening to this concept took place during a panel event titled “Navigating the System.” The panel focused on the topic of women working in STEM, and it had a truly all-star lineup of female speakers, including representatives from quantum technology companies, large government contractors, the CIA, and even Australia’s Chief Scientist, Dr. Cathy Foley. It was Dr. Foley who inspired me to write about this topic.
During the event, she was asked about her strategy for handling roadblocks when people were unfair to her, particularly when she faced discrimination because of her gender. She said that instead of attempting to fight these battles herself, she reaches out to colleagues, including male colleagues, for support and to speak on her behalf.
This answer stunned me. I instinctively recoiled when I thought of asking a male colleague to speak for me. I’m perfectly capable of speaking for myself, I thought. I would never ask someone else to fight my battles for me! But that was just my knee-jerk reaction. When I looked past it and really considered the idea, I was able to grasp the brilliance of this approach. Because Dr. Foley’s strategy isn’t just anecdata: it has a powerful and well-studied basis in human psychology.
To illustrate the psychology, let’s imagine the case where Alex is facing discrimination at work because Alex is, in some way, in the minority in their workplace. Maybe they are a person of color in a dominantly white environment or a woman in a dominantly male environment. Next, imagine one of two things happening. One, Alex speaks up against the discrimination. Or, two, Alex recruits a colleague from the dominant group to speak up instead. Let’s call the dominant-group colleague Shay.
Who do you think will be listened to more seriously? Alex, the person who is being discriminated against because of their minority status? Or Shay, a person who is part of the dominant group and speaking on Alex’s behalf?
Take a moment and really think about who you would take more seriously.
Psychology studies have repeatedly demonstrated that people are more likely to listen to the third-party person who is part of the dominant group (Shay) than they are to listen to the wronged, minority party (Alex).8,9,10 This applies whether a man speaks on behalf of a woman in a male-dominated environment or a white person speaks on behalf of a person of color in a predominantly white environment. And while I could not find a peer-reviewed journal reference for it, I would assert that this effect would also apply when a straight ally speaks on behalf of an LGBTQ person.
I have my own interpretation of this. I think humans tend to believe a third party over the wronged party because we perceive a third party as less biased, especially if they are part of the dominant group and therefore immune to the sort of discrimination being protested. The third party does not have a direct personal stake in the situation. The wronged party does. So, we put more weight behind third party opinions. This applies whether it is someone calling attention to discrimination, knowing who funded the research claiming a product is safe (was it the manufacturer?), an independent versus a paid review of a restaurant, or seeking character references for a job applicant.
By calling on male allies when confronted with gender discrimination, Dr. Foley was skillfully navigating this aspect of human psychology. And by doing so, she was exercising her professional network as a tool for achieving equity and fair treatment in her career.
This was a revelation to me. As it blossomed in my mind like a technicolor flower, I felt like a video game character leveling up and getting access to a whole new arsenal, one that I could use to tackle an old and painfully familiar problem. Broadly, the STEM gender gap. More specifically, the leaky pipeline. All those leaky pipeline issues—feeling undervalued, needing more support from a manager, and dealing with exclusionary behaviors or a lack of opportunity—are exactly the kind of thing this approach would be good for!
So, now that we’ve unlocked this new networking tool, how do we use it?
First, by doing exactly what Dr. Foley suggested. When faced with discrimination, find a colleague to support you, someone who is willing to speak on your behalf regarding the discrimination. Any third party is good, but it will carry extra weight if they are a part of the dominant group in your work environment, one that would not be subject to the kind of discrimination at issue.
And you don’t have to wait until discrimination happens. Take a moment to consider your network in your workplace and beyond. Who would you be comfortable asking for support? Reach out to a few people and ask them if something does come up, would they be okay with you calling on them for help?
It’s also important to think about this in the reverse. In what ways are you part of a dominant group? Do you recognize people in your work environment or network who are in the minority? If you have a comfortable connection with them, let them know that if they ask you to (that’s key—it’s not help if they don’t want it), you would be willing to support them. You might share this article with them as a way to start the conversation.
(Having strong connections with people at work, such that you are comfortable asking for help, is part of why networking within your own workplace is important. Intra-workplace networking can also help you be better and more efficient at your job! More on that in a future newsletter, or read up on it in Ch. 8 of Sustainable Networking for Scientists and Engineers.)
As an illustration of this networking tactic, I’ll use myself as an example. I am a queer white woman working in tech in the United States. As a woman and an LGBTQ person, I am in the minority in my workplace (and almost every workplace I’ve ever been in). Thus, if I feel that I am being discriminated against because I am female or queer, I can strategically seek support from men and straight people. By identifying specific male and straight allies that I can count on in advance, I can be prepared in the event of discrimination. Knowing I have someone to call upon in a moment of need makes my work life less stressful and improves my chances of success if something does go wrong.
On the flipside, because I am white, that makes me part of a dominant group in my workplace. When I have connections with people of color in my workplace, I can let them know they have my support if they choose to call upon me.
This approach is for what I will call “acute” instances of discrimination, in the same way getting a cold is an acute illness. But just like illnesses, discrimination can be acute and short-lived, or it can be chronic and ongoing. Chronic discrimination, which is often repeated and small, can take a serious long-term toll on people’s careers, affecting promotions, opportunities, and pay.
Networking can be used to address more chronic inequities, too. For example, studies show that women and people of color in the US can struggle to find mentorship but that they also receive some of the greatest benefits from these kinds of relationships.11 Serving as a mentor can make a significant positive impact on someone’s career, and it has an even bigger effect if that person is part of a minority group. If you are a member of a dominant group, seek out opportunities to mentor people who are not, even if it may be daunting to develop this kind of relationship with someone different from you. If you are a member of a minority group, be proactive about finding mentorship.
I encourage you, dear reader, to find opportunities to use your network to combat discrimination, whether you are seeking help, finding ways to help others, or both. I use various metaphors for networks. On the one hand, you can think of your network as your multi-functional tool, helping you tackle almost any goal or obstacle. On the other hand, your network is like an orchard; your connections to people are slow-growing trees that need regular, long-term care to yield fruit. Building a healthy, robust network is about playing the long game and investing in genuine, mutually beneficial relationships.
Achieving workplace equity is also a long game. There aren’t going to be any quick solutions to long entrenched problems. Confronting discrimination can feel daunting and, at times, hopeless. I am incredibly grateful to Dr. Foley for sharing her strategy for handling workplace discrimination. Having a clear and tangible thing to do gave me hope and a measure of relief. I hope it does for you, too. That moment was also a powerful illustration for me about the importance of having an open, growth-focused mindset. By questioning my negative knee-jerk reaction to her advice, I was able to learn something profound. I didn’t let “being an expert” keep me from a valuable new insight. There is always more to learn.
First published in the Virtuous Cycles Newsletter on 3.14.2025
by Christina C. C. Willis
References
1 Women’s Bureau, US Department of Labor Statistics. (2024). Percentage of women workers in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM). https://www.dol.gov/agencies/wb/data/occupations-stem
2 National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics (NCSES). (2023). Diversity and STEM: Women, minorities, and persons with disabilities 2023. Special Report National Science Foundation 23-315. https://www.nsf.gov/reports/statistics/diversity-stem-women-minorities-persons-disabilities-2023
3 World Economic Forum. (2023). Global gender gap report 2023. https://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_GGGR_2023.pdf
4 Gotara. (2023). The unspoken reality of the gender gap in STEM. https://www.gotara.com/the-unspoken-reality-of-the-gender-gap-in-stem/
5 Holman, L., Stuart-Fox, D., & Hauser, C. E. (2018). The gender gap in science: How long until women are equally represented?. PLOS Biology 16(4): e2004956. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.2004956
6 Pew Research Center. (2021). STEM jobs see uneven progress in increasing gender, racial and ethnic diversity. https://www.pewresearch.org/social-trends/2021/04/01/stem-jobs-see-uneven-progress-in-increasing-gender-racial-and-ethnic-diversity/
7 U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. (2019). Special Topics Annual Report: Women in STEM. https://www.eeoc.gov/special-topics-annual-report-women-stem
8 Rasinski, H. M., & Czopp, A. M. (2010). The Effect of target status on witnesses’ reactions to confrontations of bias. Basic and Applied Social Psychology, 32(1), 8–16. https://doi.org/10.1080/01973530903539754
9 Vaccarino, E., & Kawakami, K. (2020). In the office or at the gym: The impact of confronting sexism in specific contexts on support for confrontation and perceptions of others. Self and Identity, 20(7), 893–912. https://doi.org/10.1080/15298868.2020.1832566
10 Drury, B. J., & Kaiser, C. R. (2014). Allies against sexism: The role of men in confronting sexism. Journal of Social Issues, 70(4), 637–652. https://doi.org/10.1111/josi.12083
11 Emrich, C., Livingston, M., & Pruner, D. (2017). Creating a culture of mentorship. Heidrick & Struggles.
Sustainable Networking 