But a gender divide appeared when the researchers looked at the study participants’ “inner circles” – the smaller groups that they were closest with within their wider networks of industry peers. They found that more than 75% of the high-ranking women had a female-dominated inner circle, or strong ties to two or three women within their social network who they spoke with frequently.

Men’s career success, in contrast, was not particularly affected by the gender make-up of their closest contacts. In fact, it doesn’t look like having a tight-knit core group makes much of a difference to men’s progress at all: the male participants in the study were found to benefit mostly from having a large network, regardless of whether they had an “inner circle” with whom they communicated regularly.

How having a close-knit female network can help your career