'New girls clubs' took on the old boys. Now Trump wants to ban them

Reshma Saujani used to get invitations by the dozens to speak at networking events about her experiences as a woman building two nonprofits, struggling with fertility and running for Congress.

So far this year, the founder of Moms First, has received a grand total of 10.

"I was sharing my journey, my story, my past, my wisdom, my tools, my tips, my tricks, probably reaching hundreds of thousands of people a year," Saujani said. "Those opportunities are now closed. Those conferences aren’t happening. Those talks are not being organized."

The culprit, she said, is the Trump administration’s crackdown on diversity, equity and inclusion that has had a chilling effect on women’s initiatives across the business world.

President Donald Trump swept into office on campaign promises to restore fairness in the workplace by eradicating "woke" DEI policies that he says harm men and White Americans. Fearing lawsuits and the loss of government contracts, dozens of the nation’s largest companies from McDonald’s to Facebook owner Meta rolled back diversity programs. Pressure to align with the president’s agenda has only increased in recent months.

Now, an Equal Employment Opportunity Commission lawsuit against a Coca-Cola distributor for hosting a women’s retreat could jeopardize the powerful sisterhood that sprang up to counter the old boys network, according to Saujani.

"The reality is that women didn’t build these networks because they wanted to. They built them because they had to," she told USA TODAY. 

"New girls clubs" are widely credited with helping women splinter the glass ceiling. Today, women hold more of the top jobs than ever before but still lag behind men. A 2023 USA TODAY analysis of the top executive officers in the S&P 100 found that women are outnumbered 5 to 1 and women of color 26 to 1 in senior leadership.

"What we were doing is allowing women and people of color to gather, to share information, to share stories, to be inspired and to see there is a path forward for them," Saujani said. "Shutting those opportunities down is not about restoring a meritocracy. Shutting those down is about ensuring there isn’t a meritocracy."

Left out of networks, women lean into their own

For decades, male bonding on golf courses and in private clubs – many of which barred women – catapulted men into plum positions in executive suites and boardrooms.

"Research shows that networking was very powerful for men. I doubt you would find any man today who would tell you otherwise," said Brian Uzzi, a leadership professor at Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management.

As women entered professional roles in larger numbers in the 1960s and 1970s, they began forming networks of their own to overcome discrimination and other professional hurdles.

Researchers studying these networks discovered that "the things that advance men advance women as well," Uzzi said.

Sheryl Sandberg’s 2013 bestseller "Lean In" kicked off a rise in dedicated networking groups for women – not as a mirror of exclusion but as a response to it, said gender equity researcher Amy Diehl, author of "Glass Walls."

Left out of rooms where access was granted and the real decisions were made, women turned to each other for support, trading job opportunities and feeding one another vital workplace intelligence, she said.

Women’s networks "don’t exclude men, they help women catch up," Diehl said. But the Trump administration’s framing of these efforts as exclusionary has led organizations to disband gender-based mentorship and coaching programs and employee resource groups.

"Regardless of how these cases are ultimately resolved, the effect is already being felt," Diehl said.

Trump lawsuit targets women's networking event

In the view of EEOC Chair Andrea Lucas, employer-sponsored "sex-segregated" networking, training or development events or "new girls clubs" are no better than the "old boys clubs" that came before them.

In a recent talk organized by the College of Labor and Employment Lawyers, Lucas signaled "more careful scrutiny" of company-sponsored efforts that confer "various privileges of employment or other employment benefits based on race or sex or another protected characteristic."

In February, Lucas fired a warning shot at an employer for excluding men from a women's networking event.

Coca-Cola Beverages Northeast has 3,400 employees, more than 85% of whom are men. In an effort to encourage more women in their bottling careers, the New Hampshire company convened 250 employees in September 2024 at a Connecticut hotel. The theme of the in-person women’s forum – the company’s first – was "Embrace Your Authenticity: Break Barriers, Be Genuine, Inspire Change."

Jennifer Mann, president of North American operations for Coca-Cola and keynote speaker for the event, explained how she balances her work and personal life. Women seated at the ballroom tables took part in team-building exercises.

A male employee, who claimed he would have attended the event had he been invited, filed a discrimination claim. The EEOC took up his case in January 2025 as Trump prepared to take office, saying it had found "reasonable cause" Coca-Cola Beverages Northeast’s networking event violated his civil rights.

Settlement talks broke down in August. The lawsuit in New Hampshire federal court alleges the company denied male employees equal treatment "with malice or reckless indifference." The EEOC is seeking compensation and punitive damages for emotional pain, suffering, inconvenience and "mental anguish" for the male employee and "similarly aggrieved male employees."

Coca-Cola Beverages Northeast told USA TODAY the EEOC did not conduct a full investigation.

"We look forward to having our day in open court when we can tell the full story and expect to be vindicated," the company said in a statement. "We remain confident in our values and in our continued focus on fairness, respect and opportunity for everyone."

Does women networking discriminate against men?

Civil rights advocates and some employment lawyers questioned why the EEOC, which only takes on a couple hundred of the tens of thousands of discrimination complaints it receives each year, is dedicating its limited resources to the case.

"What is really striking to me is the EEOC has decided this type of action, women’s networking, is so problematic that they have to go out against it," said Chai Feldblum, president of EEO leaders, a group she said she co-founded last year to challenge the Trump administration’s attacks on employment civil rights. "I think our country is not well served by frightening employers away from doing positive actions to ensure a fair and equal workplace."

Women banding together to "build the relationships and visibility that have historically been handed to men is not the moral equivalent of the conduct that gave rise to the Civil Rights Act," said Jon Hyman, who chairs the employment and labor practice at the Wickens Herzer Panza law firm.

"When the agency charged with protecting workers from discrimination starts treating informal women's networking as its enforcement priority, it sends a message − not just a legal one, but a cultural one. And that message isn't 'we're enforcing the law equally.' It's 'we're using the law as a weapon against the very communities it was designed to protect,'" he said.

But DEI critics say the EEOC has a point. This, they say, is what equal protection looks like.

"Hosting a lavish, all-expenses-paid retreat for women only – while men are left behind – is textbook discrimination, plain and simple. The law does not carve out exceptions for discrimination that is fashionable or well-intentioned," Nick Barry, senior counsel with the America First Legal advocacy organization, told USA TODAY.

Even some women don’t see what all the fuss is about. Kat Shoa, founder of an artificial intelligence firm, said she had never been to a women’s networking event that excluded men.

"If men are interested in women’s issues, they should be able to attend. What am I missing here?" she wrote on LinkedIn. "How would women feel if there was a male-only event or how would everyone feel if there was a Caucasian-only event? I think these things need to be closely examined."

David Glasgow, executive director of the Meltzer Center for Diversity, Inclusion and Belonging at the NYU School of law, has been weighing these questions for years. Glasgow said he advises organizations to avoid handing out employment opportunities based on the three Ps: "preferences for protected groups with respect to palpable benefits."

Opening up affinity groups, retreats, mentorship programs and other diversity initiatives to wider participation can encourage more employees to become allies and are met with less resistance in the workplace, according to Glasgow, coauthor of "How Equality Wins: A New Vision for an Inclusive America."

Organizations at first worried that women wouldn’t feel safe sharing their experiences "if there were a whole bunch of men in the room," he said. "I am not hearing that as much anymore, maybe because the actual composition of events has not changed as much as people feared."