We call them our colleagues, our peers, our mentors, or our coworkers – they are the people in our professional lives that also share in the details of our personal lives, who we associate with voluntarily, and who we trust with our thoughts, our experiences, and our fears.

Outside of work, we might call these relationships “friendships,” but it’s rarer to hear that particular f-word at the office – and the reason has to do with more than just semantics.

More recently, research in academia this year led the authors to conclude that “we contend that women’s friendships allow women to thrive by meeting core psychological needs that are threatened in a marginalized work environment.” The role of a female academic’s female friendships are crucial in helping them counter and navigate the masculine culture of academia.