Women Need More Complex Networks Than Men to Reach Corporate Boardrooms

Why do some corporate employees reach the boardroom while equally qualified peers do not? For men, the answer turns out to be relatively simple: their current employer matters most. For women, the path requires a broader, more complex web of connections - and particularly connections to other women who have already made it.

That is the central finding of a study published in the Cell Press journal Patterns, which analyzed the career trajectories of more than 19,000 senior employees across 772 publicly traded Canadian firms over two decades.

Mapping networks with deep learning

The research team, led by senior author Cristian Bravo at Western University in Canada, compiled publicly available data on 15,167 men and 4,228 women who held senior positions at Canadian firms between 2000 and 2022. The dataset included work histories, educational backgrounds, and social engagement records such as memberships in clubs, organizations, and charities.

Using an AI deep-learning model, the team mapped how each person's social and professional network evolved as their career progressed. They then identified which network features increased or decreased someone's likelihood of reaching a director-level position.

Of the men in the dataset, 17% eventually secured director positions. For women, the figure was 19.4% - a slightly higher percentage that reflects, in part, diversity initiatives launched in Canada around 2015 to promote gender equity on corporate boards.

Different paths to the same destination

When the researchers compared the contribution of different types of networks - controlling for demographics, education, and professional experience - they found notable differences between genders.

For men, the likelihood of reaching a director-level position was primarily determined by current employment. The network effect was relatively straightforward: work at the right company, and the path to the board opens.

For women, the picture was more layered. Past employment history and both current and past social networks all weighed more heavily in their success. Women who reached the top had to be, in the words of co-author Maria Oskarsdottir at the University of Southampton, excellent at everything. Whether this reflects higher standards imposed on women or fewer opportunities that select only the most exceptional candidates remains an open question.

Female leaders lifting other women

One of the study's most striking findings emerged from analyzing how existing board members influenced the advancement of people in their networks. Women who advanced to director positions were more likely to be well-connected to other female leaders already on boards.

These women appear to function as bridges between professional communities that traditional networks do not easily reach. The structural inequalities that have accumulated over decades create barriers that formal hiring processes alone cannot overcome. But individual women in positions of power can - and evidently do - create pathways for other women.

First author Yuhao (Jet) Zhou, a financial mathematician at Western University, notes that senior executive and board positions are rarely advertised through conventional job postings. These roles are filled through network-based relationships, making the structure and composition of those networks critical for who advances.

Limitations and transferability

The study analyzed only Canadian publicly traded firms, which operate under specific regulatory and cultural conditions. Canada's comply-or-explain governance code for board diversity, adopted in 2014, created incentives for companies to improve female representation. Whether the same network dynamics hold in countries without similar policies is unknown.

The dataset relied on publicly available information, which may be incomplete. Social engagement was measured through formal memberships rather than informal relationships, potentially missing important connections. The gender data was limited to binary categories, reflecting the available records.

The deep-learning model identifies correlations in network patterns but cannot establish causation. It shows that women who reach director positions tend to have more complex networks, but it cannot prove those networks caused the advancement. It is possible that the same qualities that drive women to build diverse networks - ambition, strategic thinking, social intelligence - are independently responsible for their success.

The researchers suggest their methods could be applied to academia and other fields with persistent gender disparities. The underlying pattern - that invisible social processes shape hiring decisions in ways that formal qualifications alone cannot explain - likely extends well beyond corporate Canada.