Gender and the Network Structures of Social Capital in Professional-Client Relationships

Abstract

Recent studies in industrialized economies document a shift in gender composition of the labor market.They report an increase in the amount of women entering the labor force and in the number securing toplevelpositions in organizations (Jacobs, 1992; Kanter, 1977; Reskin & Roos, 1990). In professional labormarkets, organizations' efforts to hire and promote women to senior ranks have assisted gender equality, buttop-ranking male professionals still outnumber women professionals across many high-status professionalsectors. This social phenomenon prevails in most professions and organizational forms, includingprofessional service firms. Gender stratification, for example, within the legal profession is very apparent,producing income differences that are more substantial than that exists in the total labor force (Hagan,1990).This paper proposes using social capital theory to examine the influences of gender in professional servicefirms. Moving beyond the intra-organizational perspective, we argue for the significance of networkstructures that extend across organizational boundaries. We focus specifically on gender differences innetwork relationships with clients and on the structural nature of the professional's social capital. Weadvance four propositions for future research on how individuals' network structures influence theattainment of higher income and status position in the firm. Finally, we make some suggestions on whatindividuals and professional service firms can do to promote more gender equality.