Networks of Exclusion:
Job Segmentation and
Gendered Social Networks in the
Knowledge Economy
Dr. Mia Gray
Dr. Tomoko Kurihara
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Segmentation in the
Labour Market
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Persistent Gendered Segmentation
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Knowledge Intensive Economy different?
Occupational Segmentation
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UK: Women in Work Commission
US: Fed Glass Ceiling Commission
women primarily subject to segregation into
occupations that are devalued because they
are dominated by women
Job Segmentation
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gendered and racialised patterns in pay,
position, and prestige within an occupation.
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Social Networks at Work
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job acquisition and promotion embedded in
informal networks
informal social networks provide access to
valuable labour market info and lower transaction
costs
“Weak ties” original or unique information from
one network, or community of knowledge, to
another
networks can result not only in jobs, but in better
jobs - prestige jobs, satisfaction, earnings
(Granovetter)
Once you get a job -- affect job stability and
promotion prospects
Women better at this explicit social component to
work
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Social Networks and Job Promotion
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Gendered nature of social networks affects internal mobility
within the firm
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Composition, range, and geography of women's networks of
social contacts differ from those of men (Drentea)
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“information isolation,” blocks career advancement of women, as well
as minorities (FGCC)
social homogeneity of networks (Marsden, Kanter)
women who use informal job search methods are more likely to end up
with gender segregated jobs (Drentea)
segregation in networks reinforces occupational segmentation in the
labour market
technical women excluded from informal networks of knowledge
diffusion in high tech firms (Gray and James, Fisher)
ineffective in placing members in high-end jobs is because there are
fewer high-status contacts in the network (McGuire)
Open vs Closed network
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Social Capital as Metaphor
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Putman: celebratory embrace of social networks:
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Bourdieu: class and social networks
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social capital - positive externalities of social connections (results in trust,
shared norms, solidarity, civic mindedness)
social capital is productive and positive
social capital = social networks + resources embedded in these networks
+ instrumental use of these resources
social K as investment of members in the dominant class engaging in
mutual recognition to maintain the group resources.
Stress unequal distribution of capital
Agency imp. -- individuals either consciously or unconsciously invest time
and effort to produce and maintain good and useful social relations with
people in exchange for profitable outcomes
Lin, Burt, and Cook: application to work place
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Lin: Social capital = structural (embeddedness), opportunity (accessibility)
+ action-orientation (use)
Social K always generates return or gain and positive
Intertwined with human K (networks make you more desirable to
employers for some positions)
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Social Capital Problematic
 Positive outcomes (individuals always
have positive returns on investments)
 No benefits from scale: capital always
accrues equally to large and small
investors
 Confuses resources in network &
resources as network
 Like neoclassical economics, assumes
away conflict, power-struggles with
assumption of harmonious outcomes
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Our Study –
ICT Engineering Professionals:
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Two firms in same segment of ICT: licensing only
Small number of women and declining
focus groups and individual interviews of 30
engineers (gender, ethnicity)
CVs as aide memoir -- snapshots of career histories- focusing on social relations that led to job
acquisition & promotion
account for the way people experience and
conceptualise their relationships in the workplace
attuned to the use of language within the firm
(differentiating between management and eng) that
reflect shared norms, identity and values
complex ways in which the meaning of social
networks/capital can be interpreted by status, age,
sex and ethnicity
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Our Findings: Job Segregation
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Severe job segregation:
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Female engineers -- support engineering jobs (testing,
customer service, debugging)
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Women rarely held positions in management
– few functioned as “development” engineers
– few women in lower management.
– Job security gendered -- many of the support jobs are currently
being outsourced to India and other countries.
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Male engineers – “core” engineer and mangmt
– No men as low-level support engineers
– Male management
– Mid and senior engineering positions are mixed, mostly filled by
ethnic men and women
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Table 8 : The Occupational Structure of Interview Participants
Ethnic Women
EU Ethnic
Women
Non-ethnic
Women
Ethnic Men
Born
UK
Top Management
EU Ethnic Men
Immigr
ant
Arjun
Division
manager
l
Vice Presidents
l
Director of
Research
Derek
Nigel
l
Middle
Management
Edwi
n
Colin
Manage staff +
use technical
knowledge
l
Lower
Management
Talvin
Ulla
No staff
management
l
Product/custome
r knowledge
Wei
Mid-level
Engineer
Qian
Low-level
Engineers
Mary
Aisha
Lei
Technical
support
l
Customer
Support
l
Testing
l
Steve
Bridget
Katrina
Juan
Luca
l
Senior Engineer
Kirsty
Victoria
Non-ethnic Men
Omar
Findings: The Key to Promotion
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Male mgmt engineers – all strongly mentored.
All received informal invitations for them to apply for job
(then advertised and won in open competition).
Understands promotion, sees hierarchy
Effective but closed system of mentors – nested
mentoring, “band of brothers” – share history, cultural
norms and references (“BTP shape”)
Screening potential candidates (degree of openness, but
“structural holes” don’t indiscriminately bestow their
resources equally upon broader web of contacts)
Resources access are cumulative – creates initial
legitimacy, which then creates more networks and
makes them more worth knowing
– Accrue more capital from being “chosen”
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Band of Brothers:
Nested Mentoring at BTP
CEO
David
VP of
Eng
Derek
Director
Of Eng
Arjun
CPU
Eng Mgr
Nigel
Head of System
On Chip
Pete
Findings: The Mystery of Promotion
(or lack of)
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Strong gendered patterns in accessing networks and
resources
Female support engineers isolated from male manager’s
“club” and felt they missed out on information flows
Promotion system “was a mystery.” Others felt they were
‘out of the loop’
No language to talk about mentors/networks
Explained lack of hierarchy
Everyone has networks, but varying
– resources in them
– degree of conscious use and
– skill in using them
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Realising Capital: Negative Returns
Network Mobility
 Women still changed jobs more often to
accommodate partner’s career.
 More difficult to gain and change employment, more
un and under-employment
 Made promotion slower
 Negative Returns?
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Human capital (education) under valued
Social capital (univ./job connections) devalued
Social capital specific to sector/industry/occupation
Realising social capital limited (need for work permit limits
mobility)
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Deploying Capital: Spatial Liquidity
Networks have spatial and non-spatial components
Non-spatial:
– Non-proximate industry-based networks help with work advice,
problem solving, crisis. Can help with job acquisition
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Spatial:
– Proximate industry networks and/or regional networks provide
opportunity within firm and/or region. Affected when change location
(nationally or internationally) or sector --if not motivated by personal
opportunity
– Additionally, community-based/home based mobilise social capital
can help realise return on workplace capital. Often mobility
separates worker from community based social capital.
– Both devalued existing social networks – make it difficult to access
and resources
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Different Networks and Range of Mobility in Space
“Band of Brothers”
BTP
Low End Management
Support Engineers
Mid Level Management
Complex confluence of overlapping network mobility
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Conclusion:
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Not always positive outcome (can lose capital)
Takes capital to make capital (large investors
privileged)
Importance of agency as well as structure:
“competences” -- social knowledge and skills to act on
this knowledge -- necessary for positive outcomes
People do not pass on information indiscriminately to
whoever they are in touch with; it’s an investment or
payment of an outstanding debt.
Exclusionary as well as inclusionary -- gender,
ethnicity and forms of cultural capital at work to
maintain the distinction between inclusivity and
exclusivity. Protection of resources
Social capital as a power-structure by another means
Depoliticises the workplace
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