10 reasons why you should join a women's group at work

Today is my last official day as co-lead for Women@LinkedIn in our Dublin office. For the past 12 months, I have had the honor of leading a group of fabulous women and elevate female voices in the workplace. 

My passion for gender equality advocacy was born in college where I focused on gender related research within my political science studies and started a local HeForShe chapter. Being able to live out this passion at work by facilitating career development workshops for female employees and organizing events like International Women’s Day has allowed me to develop a deep and genuine gratitude for having found this community at LinkedIn.

So if you are wondering whether you should join your company’s women’s group or start one from scratch, here are 10 reasons why having a community of women in the workplace is simply awesome:

1. Having a Safe Space

In case you are unfamiliar with the term “safe space”, it originated in the US as part of the women’s movement and refers to places that are created for individuals who belong to a marginalized group (e.g. people of color, members of the LGBTQ community, disabled people). In the case of women, we use these spaces because we feel safe to speak freely and benefit from a form of collective empathy and strength. With Women@LinkedIn it is simply wonderful to be able to have meaningful conversations around the daily struggles that women are facing without having to justify your emotions or fears.

2. It’s a great Networking opportunity 

There is a lot of interesting research out there on the differences between how men and women engage in networking, also referred to as the “network gap”. However, in my opinion the president of LeanIn.org, Rachel Thomas, really hits the nail on the head: “I think men are socialized from the get-go to understand that mixing business and friendship is what you do [to get ahead]. We, as women, aren’t as comfortable doing that.” To those women to whom networking doesn’t come as easily, starting out within a strong female support group at work can teach them to develop more confidence to leverage personal and professional networks to accelerate their career. 

I personally have stopped counting all the wonderful women across the globe I’ve been so fortunate to connect with because of Women@LinkedIn that I otherwise wouldn’t have been able to cross paths with (shout-out to the W@LI team in Sydney!). I am beyond grateful for that.

3. Realizing we’re all in this together 

After having facilitated two “Rise Up” career development workshops over the past six months, what has stuck with me the most was the fact that we as women are all in this together. By being vulnerable and sharing our individual experiences with the group, we realized that our experiences in the workplace and beyond are actually quite similar. Trying to be perfect all the time both at work and at home, overthinking what we say and do, not being able to say no or thinking our managers automatically alway know about all the amazing things we’re doing and so on - these feelings are very common and so valid! Throughout these workshops, our participants were always surprised to find out that everyone was having the exact same struggles, which felt both comforting and empowering.

4. Benefitting from diverse experiences and backgrounds

What I love about my group of fabulous women is its diversity of thought. While our office skews heavily towards sales people, our committee has members from many different parts of the business and a variety of countries are represented. That allows not only for a diversity in thought but also enables us to learn about different departments to gain a more holistic view of our company. I only wish we had more racial diversity in our group because we - and our office as a whole - would greatly benefit from that very important perspective. And as allies it is our duty to further support the hiring of women of color and elevate their voices.

5. Gaining mentors & sponsors 

This ties back to the idea of networking but goes a little further than that. By joining a community of women, your network automatically grows, which in itself is fantastic. That being said, not every woman in that group will become a mentor of yours. Once you start to work more closely with someone on a project or sub-committee, you have the chance to get to know them even better and connect on a deeper level. It is those environments that allow for excellent mentor-mentee relationships to form. I myself was extremely lucky to have found both a mentor and sponsor in my incredible Women@LinkedIn co-lead (shout-out to Banu!). Not only is she a lot more senior than me and therefore was able to offer me so much valuable career advice but she also invested so much time in me which has allowed me to grow both as a leader and a professional. In case you are unsure of what the difference between mentor and sponsor is, I recommend you check out this article.

6. Doing something outside of your core role

I hope all of you genuinely love your job. That being said, I’m sure even the world’s happiest employee experiences occasional downs in their role and that is completely normal. During challenging times, I sometimes really enjoyed “escaping” from my core role and focusing on Women@LinkedIn related tasks instead. It allowed me so switch gears while still working on something meaningful. Once I celebrated a few successes there - and even if it was just booking a room for an upcoming event or sending out email invites - I had regained some new energy and could go back to working on my core. This is a great approach to trick your mind, especially when you feel stuck or demotivated. Overall, despite a bigger workload, Women@LinkedIn has given me a lot more balance at work and forced me to manage my time in a more efficient manner. 

7. Gaining leadership skills

Alright, I’m going to be very vulnerable right now. As the youngest/most junior Women@LinkedIn lead globally, I’ve had my fair share of the imposter syndrome. When offered this position, I - a 25-year old who had only graduated from college 2 years prior - found myself leading meetings where the majority of the women in the room were more senior than me and so were my fellow office leads across the globe. In my mind, I was attempting to lead without true authority. The only thing that kept me going was knowing that I was genuinely passionate about our cause and a strong executer. My goal was to lead this fabulous group of badass women by making them feel empowered and own their projects but I didn’t really know how to do that in the best way. It took me some time to become comfortable with the uncomfortable. And luckily, I had a fantastic co-lead who constantly provided me with guidance and advice. Looking back, this was one of the best professional decisions I’ve ever made. Especially if you are an individual contributor, getting involved with a women’s group (or other employee resource group) is an incredible opportunity for you to gain some invaluable leadership skills. 

8. Having an impact

Until we have reached true gender equality in the workforce and beyond, there is still A LOT of work to be done. The exact numbers vary, depending on source and region of the world but all of them are quite frankly depressing. And no matter if the truth is 100 years, 107 years or 208 years - none of these numbers are acceptable. While Women@LinkedIn or other women’s groups might not have a macro-level impact by themselves, I genuinely believe that if we add up all these micro-level efforts, we can actually have a huge impact globally. Therefore, being part of this community has been one of the most rewarding parts of my career at LinkedIn. And if I have only changed one woman’s life for the better, it was already worth it. Remember, we are in this together!

9. Positive impact on your performance review

I am very fortunate to work for a company that places a lot of value on its culture. Part of LinkedIn’s unique culture is measuring its employees not only on their results but also on two other pillars called “leadership” and “leverage”. When I assumed the Women@LinkedIn co-lead position last summer, my manager and I agreed that my work for this ERG (employee resource group) would be counted towards my leadership efforts as part of my half-year reviews, which helped me achieve an overall “exceeded expectations” rating. I realize that I might be quite lucky and that not every team or company has these agreements in place but if that is indeed not the case, I would strongly encourage you to address this possibility with your manager or even senior leadership.

While I am not trying to suggest that you should simply volunteer to get some brownie points in your performance review (and I’m hoping by now I’ve given you enough other valid reasons to get involved), it would allow you to be more committed and simultaneously advance your career. And that’s what we’re all here for, isn’t it?

10. Raising awareness 

Honestly, being a feminist can be exhausting sometimes. Reading the news about laws and policies that usually white, cis-gendered, heterosexual, old males put in place to govern over women’s bodies or having to explain why there is no Men@LinkedIn has left me feel discouraged, angry and sad on multiple occasions. In order to pick myself up again, I have to remind myself that if we women don’t keep up the fight by continuously raising awareness, we won’t get anywhere. While there are some wonderful male allies (but we still need many more of you!!), the majority of the work still weighs heavily on women’s shoulders. Although I truly believe this needs to change and I wish more privileged men would proactively educate themselves on gender equality issues. It is not the job of a marginalized group to put in the work. Nevertheless, being part of a women’s group and helping women feel more empowered in the workplace doesn’t go unnoticed and is a great opportunity to educate your coworkers about the important cause that is gender equality advocacy. 

I hope this article has inspired some of you to get involved. I would love to hear what your experiences with women support groups has been like. 

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This article is a tribute to my wonderful Women@LinkedIn ladies. Thank you for everything!