????如今，女性比以往任何時候都更加努力地工作。2011年的一項皮尤調查（Pew Survey）發現，女性每周工作的時間接近60個小時，除了帶薪工作外，她們還要負責家務，照看孩子。女性高管通常也會花同樣多的時間用于工作。而在競爭尤為激烈的行業，每周工作60至70個小時已逐漸成為常態。

????對于大多數女性而言，這既是好消息，也是壞消息。一方面，過去20年間，女性在職場的進步可謂突飛猛進——女性的勞動力參與率翻了一番，正在進入職場的年輕女性的受教育程度普遍高于男性。但另一方面，雖然女性在職場中取得了進步，但在公司高層的影響力仍極其微弱——僅有14.6%的高管職位由女性擔任。

????這些統計數據掩蓋了一個更加現實的問題：女性往往用在做事情上的時間更多，用于社交的時間更少。而這并不是小問題。在如今的市場，社交能力已成為職業生涯成功與否的關鍵。

????熱衷社交有時候會被看作是過于渴望向上爬的一種表現，不少職業女性因此對它敬而遠之。而對于女性領導者來說，她們需要在業績上表現得與男性旗鼓相當或更加出色，因此很多女領導想當然地認為自己沒有時間去應酬。

????但如今，決定領導力高下的，已不僅僅是你在電腦前花費的時間，還越來越多地包括你的社交能力，你如何吸收外部的看法，以及你如何引領團隊前進等。社交要花時間，但它很重要。

????職場上男性都能理解這種觀念。商務旅行、體育運動、行業會議或下班后的社交聚會等，雖然被恰當地理解為男性之間培養友誼的方式，但同時也是積累職業資本的重要方法。所以，女性反感男性俱樂部或僅限男士的高爾夫旅行，是有道理的。

????職場女性還會面臨另外一項挑戰。對于許多女性而言，令人困惑的工作和生活平衡具有至高無上的重要性。她們忙于公事和家事，但又不希望減少用在家人或個人興趣上的時間。這造成的結果是，社交活動被擱置。在社交網絡中同樣如此：一項對不同性別使用社交網絡情況的調查發現，更多女性使用Facebook、Tumbler、Instagram和Twitter。在Pinterest的用戶中，女性占絕大多數。相反，更多男性會使用在線職業社交網站LinkedIn。

????女性正在錯過良機。社交活動不僅可以增加在公司內部和外部的商業機會，而且可以為女性創造空間，通過人格特質軟化專業界限，為女性更有效地掌握職場主動權掃清道路。女性還可以通過社交活動，找到在辦公室內難得一見的榜樣和商業領袖。最重要的是，社會聯系和職業社交會讓我們的工作更有趣，更持久。

????另外，忽視社交會對女性職業造成不利影響。麥肯錫公司（McKinsey & Company）的喬安娜?巴斯表示，女性缺乏接觸非正式網絡的機會，是她們職業發展的結構性障礙。與缺少導師或適當的指導與培訓一樣，它會影響職業發展。

????Women are working harder than ever. A 2011 Pew Survey found that women are working nearly 60 hours a week when you combine paid employment, household chores and childcare. Female executives often have to put that much into their job every week. In extremely competitive industries, the 60 to 70-hour work week is increasingly the norm.

????For most women, the story is both good news and bad news. On the one hand, women’s advancements in the workplace have skyrocketed in the past 20 years—their participation in the labor force has doubled, and now young women are entering the workforce better educated than their male counterparts. On the other hand, despite such progress, women are poorly represented at the top levels of companies – only 14.6% of executive officer level positions are held by women.

????These statistics obscure a more practical issue: women spend more time doing and less time networking. And this is no small matter. In today’s market, networking has become the lifeblood of a fruitful professional life.

????Sometimes it is dismissed as the unseemly activity of overly ambitious professionals ascending the ladder of careerism. With the demand on women to perform at an equal or better level than their male counterparts, female leaders sometime assume they don’t have the time for social engagement.

????But leadership today is increasingly defined not just by how many hours you spend at your computer, but your ability to connect to others, how you incorporate outside perspectives, and how you navigate groups. Networking takes time, but it matters.

????Men in the workplace understand this. The business trip, the sports outing, the industry conferences, or the social after-work gatherings have always been viewed – correctly – not just as male bonding, but as an essential part of building professional capital. That is why women were right to rebel against the all-male clubs or the boys-only golf trips.

????Female professionals also face a different challenge. For many, the elusive work-life balance is paramount. They are busy at work and at home and don’t want to take more time away from their families or personal interests. As a result, networking gets put on the back burner. This appears to be true even in social networking: a study on use of social networking sites by gender found that more women than men use Facebook , Tumbler, Instagram and Twitter TWTR 7.45% . And women overwhelmingly dominate Pinterest. By contrast, more men than women use LinkedIn LNKD 0.06% ,the designated online professional networking site.

????Women are missing an opportunity. Networking not only expands business opportunities within company walls and externally. It creates that space where professional boundaries are softened by personality, often paving the way for women to be more effective in driving initiatives forward in the workplace. It allows women to find role models and business leads not available inside their office. Most important, social connection and professional engagement is what makes our jobs interesting and enduring.

????Failing to network, on the other hand, can be damaging to your career. Joanna Barsh of McKinsey & Company says that women’s lack of access to informal networks is a structural obstacle to their career advancement, comparable in impact to lacking a mentor, or appropriate coaching and training.