A novel alternative. Book groups, women, and workplace networking

SynopsisDrawing on the results of a small qualitative research project involving four work-based book groups—three in the UK and one in the USA—this article examines the ways in which participation in workplace reading groups facilitates women's networking within work organizations, in terms of both formal and informal as well as expressive and instrumental networking. It has long been recognized that women's employment progression is hampered, in part, by their exclusion from male-dominated networks. Taking a gendered approach to the analysis of workplace networking, this study suggests that book groups can function as an alternative to traditional old boys' networks, in some instances. Within the workplace, the collective reading of literature, I suggest, can potentially function as a means to extend the social as well as the more career-focused opportunities of its participants.