Samea Maakrun knows that nothing moves your career faster than having a network of colleagues.

Since she joined Women's Network Australia, the client base of her spa and beauty product company has grown by 45 per cent. "Through the network we've been able to forge links with other people in the wellness industry around the world and leverage that," says Maakrun, 34. "In business, it is often not what you know but who you know."

Maakrun has picked up six national business awards by entering competitions advertised through the network's newsletter. "I found out about those competitions through the network - it keeps you on the ball."

More importantly, networking means that Maakrun never feels alone. She regularly attends the network's social events and seminars.

"When you do your MBA at a prestigious university the graduates all seem to stick together," she says. "The network provides that foundation for me."

Compared with so-called boys' clubs, women's networks are a relatively new phenomenon. When network founder Lynette Palmen worked in the corporate sector in the 1980s, she was literally shut out of networking functions.

"My male colleagues went to a club where women weren't allowed in," she says. She missed out when her workmates discussed career strategies and did their mentoring over lunch.

Concerned about the barriers, she got together with four female friends and formed WNA. Today she says the network helps more than 40,000 women around the country. "We share information and resources, help one another with career development and support each other," Palmen says.

Despite progression towards gender equality in the Australian workplace, many qualified women fail to progress to senior roles.

Janet Hanson, founder of 85 Broads, a women's network based in New York, believes this is because women aren't as good at networking. "The smartest 'old boys' know that the key to success comes from sharing your best relationships with people you trust," she says. "We teach women how to trust each other enough to share their personal and professional relationships."

85 Broads, which began as a network for women employed by investment banking firm Goldman Sachs, has more than 17,000 members worldwide and gives membership to women at leading educational institutions. "Our most rapid growth is coming from Australia and Asia as companies become global," she says. "We are increasingly viewed as a 'brain bank' for companies who need to hire the best and brightest talent they can find."

Sydney member of 85 Broads, Julie Ji, 21, is an analyst for Deloitte Consulting. She says the network provides role models and creates a safe space to discuss the challenges women face.

"We're all on the same side of the glass ceiling," Ji says. "I know I will be faced with the choice between family and career, and having a network of people who have been through a similar thing gives an extra level of support."

For Ji there are other benefits in joining a global network. "Eventually I plan to live and work in New York, and through this network I already have friends over there."

For women who don't like the idea of networking for its own sake, some organisations provide opportunities without the business cards and champagne.

Girls On Top runs mountaineering expeditions for women who raise $5000 for charity.

"The idea is for women to harness the existing networks around them and have courageous conversations they don't normally have," says Girls On Top director Jade Richardson. "Women often have difficulty asking for a promotion or pay rise or dealing with rivalry, so this creates a practice run."

Once the funds are raised, a final team is selected to complete a high-altitude climb. "When women make it to a certain point in their careers they can be quite battle fatigued," Richardson says. "We wanted to give them a different mountain to climb but teach them so they learn to draw on female support."

According to Anne Maree Payne, the director of equity and diversity at the University of Technology, Sydney, the best women's networks aren't boys' clubs for the girls.

"They are the antithesis to the old boys' networks because they're about sharing information and being open to helping others in their careers," she says. "The aim is to talk about issues and barriers to success and career progression that apply to women."

But not all women are willing to sign up. "The people who are most concerned about women's networks are women working in traditionally male-dominated fields such as engineering," she says.

"They're already quite isolated in the workplace and may be concerned that involvement in a women's only group may further marginalise them."

A long way to go

According to figures published by the Equal Opportunity for Women in the Workplace Agency earlier this year, gender equality is yet to be achieved in most Australian workplaces.

* 43 per cent of women and 46 per cent of men feel their workplace can be "a bit of a boys' club".
* Almost 25 per cent of women and men do not believe women are treated equally to men in their workplace.
* More than half the male and female employees surveyed agreed that promotions and job opportunities in their workplace were not always awarded on merit.
* Almost 40 per cent of women and 30 per cent of men said men progressed more quickly in their workplace.
* One of the five most common reasons cited by women for leaving a job was difficulty progressing in their career.

Source: Generation F: Attract, Engage, Retain published by the Equal Opportunity for Women in the Workplace Agency, 2008.