On at least one occasion, at the direct request of a young lady, I've attempted to get her fixed up with a boy at one of these events, so I'd say both genders are subject to these impulses but this talk of mixing business with pleasure got me thinking. On a certain level, business networking events are a lot like singles parties. There are certain parallels between the two types of events, both physical and sociological. Let's start with the physical. Networking events are often held in a bar.
Singles mingle in bars all the time, and the booze is a flowing in both types of events.
Much like attending a matchmaker's party, the business networker is often given something to help break the ice while meeting new people. Sometimes it's just a name tag. Other times it's a badge, color-coded to what your professional niche is, or what your convention status is. The closet merging of the matchmaker's realm and the networker's I've personally witnessed was the stamping of business cards with specific characters when you entered the reception - find another person with an identical stamp on their card and you win a prize. If that networking promotion doesn't sound like something straight out of a single's party, I don't know what does.