Research examined the proportion of women promoted in proportion to next lower grade and found that women were being promoted in the same proportion as those who were in the lower grade. Women GS 13-15 are promoted as fast as men. This means that the problem is the transition from the past, and that the proportion of women will increase as they move along the pipeline. Other sociological studies find less sanguine results such as that women are better educated than men at each level and that they come from families of higher income or occupational status or education. Studies find women managers more likely to be Democrats, and they are more likely to be in women's agencies like welfare, child protection, the US Children's Bureau or the US Department of Labor, or at smaller agencies like public utilities commissions.
Feminism believes that women suffer from past that was hierarchical, hegemonic, and patriarchal.
Feminism argues that women have a different style of leadership that stresses cooperation, in contrast to men's style that stresses hierarchy. The culture values masculinity. Stereotypes are that women cannot be natural leaders, and that they are both too aggressive and not aggressive enough. Both sexes believe these stereotypes. Networking may be defined as the trading of trade services, information, advice, political backing, moral support in career development.