Women are often faced with gendered barriers that impede their career advancement. To overcome these barriers, women may seek support from their female colleagues. However, there are two dominant cultural ideas about the role women play in helping other women advance at work, which seemingly contradicts each other: the Righteous Woman and the Queen Bee.
Is there some truth in the queen bee stereotype?
The Righteous Woman is an ideal that posits women have a distinct moral obligation to support one another. In contrast, the Queen Bee belief argues that women cannot get along and that they undermine each other in the workplace. These perceptions can lead people to believe that workplace disagreements between women are especially damaging.
There is a special place in hell for women who don’t help each other! (Madeleine Albright)
Although studies have shown that men engage in indirect aggression such as gossiping and social exclusion at similar or even higher rates than women, it is still widely believed that women are meaner to one another.
Research on these behaviors has found instances where this is the case. However, Queen Bee dynamics are not reflective of some inherent negative trait in women. Rather, to the extent that these behaviors exist, they are triggered by gender discrimination.
Gender bias and lack of gender solidarity
Studies have shown that Queen Bee behaviors emerge when two dynamics come together: gender bias and a lack of gender solidarity. For women with low levels of gender identification, who think their gender should be irrelevant at work and for whom connecting with other women is not important, being on the receiving end of gender bias can force them to realize that others see them first and foremost as women.
Queen Bee behaviors are triggered by gender bias and lack of gender solidarity.
Due to negative stereotypes about women, these individuals may worry that their career path may be stunted if they are primarily seen as women, and therefore not a good fit for leadership positions. To overcome these gendered barriers, these women may distance themselves from other women by pursuing an individual strategy of advancement that centers on undermining their female colleagues.
They may use Queen Bee behaviors such as describing themselves in more masculine terms, denigrating other women, and being unsupportive of initiatives to address gender inequality.
Identifying highly as a woman
However, women who have experienced gender discrimination and who strongly identify with their gender are more likely to create opportunities for other women rather than distance themselves from them. For example, a study found that policewomen who highly identified as women responded to gender discrimination with an increased desire to create more opportunities for other women.
There is plenty of evidence to show that women do indeed support one another. When women work with a higher percentage of women, they experience lower levels of gender discrimination and harassment.
Women who strongly identify with their gender are more likely to create opportunities for other women.
When women have female supervisors, they report receiving more family and organizational support than when they have male supervisors. And a preponderance of studies shows that when more women are in management positions, the gender pay gap is smaller.
In conclusion, Queen Bee’s dynamics are triggered by gender bias and a lack of gender solidarity. Women who have experienced gender discrimination but who strongly identify with their gender respond to gender discrimination with an increased desire to create more opportunities for other women.
It is important to recognize the Righteous Woman and create a more supportive work environment for women.
