[sliverstorm]

Also discovered by feminist organizations in decades past. A good read:

There is no such thing as a structureless group. Any group of people of whatever nature that comes together for any length of time for any purpose will inevitably structure itself in some fashion. --Jo Freeman, "The Tyranny of Structurelessness"

http://www.jofreeman.com/joreen/tyranny.htm

[vintermann]

I was going to recommend that. Whether the accusations of gender discrimination were warranted or not, either way it would be a dead-classic example of power struggles in informal structures.