HBR Women at Work Series Collection (3 Books)

9

Do Women’s Networking Events Move the Needle on Equality?

by Shawn Achor

A few years ago, I was flying home from the Conference for Women, where I had been invited to speak. I was carefully holding a copy of the conference program on my lap—my mom likes to save them, and I wanted to be a good son and bring her back an unwrinkled copy. The guy sitting next to me on the airplane noticed it and asked me about the conference. I told him it’s a series of nonprofits across the country that run conferences for women from all industries to talk about leadership, fairness, and success. He then surprised me by saying, “I’m all for equality, but I’m not sure what good a conference will do.” Done with the conversation, he put on his headphones, content ...