Queen Bee Syndrome

Queen bee syndrome is often held up as an example of women inflicting harm on other women or standing in their way to impede their path toward success and equality in the workplace. Queen bee syndrome is the name given to the phenomenon in which women who have made their way into senior or advanced positions in a company do not give any support or encouragement to younger women who are still working their way up.

Types

Some women who display queen bee syndrome actively work against their female subordinates, overlooking their successes and castigating them for their failures. Other women who display queen bee syndrome simply fail to give the women working beneath them any encouragement or advice.

Location

Queen bee syndrome is most evident in the workplace. At work, these successful women focus their behavior toward other women in the same company or office. However, queen bee syndrome isn't restricted to the workplace; it can be found in any organization in which women work together in a hierarchical system.

Prevention

Queen bee syndrome is most easily prevented through open and honest communication. It isn't something that highly placed women in a business or organization always participate in consciously. Instead, queen bee syndrome is a natural reaction to the feeling of competition that women feel toward other women in a shared environment. By encouraging dialogue between female employees or female members of a community organization, for example, this competition can be brought out in the open where it can be addressed.

Effects

The most damaging effect of queen bee syndrome is that it keeps other qualified women from advancing inside a company. Female bosses with this syndrome are less likely to hire women and much less likely to promote them to positions of power than their male counterparts. Queen bee syndrome and other types of competition among women in the workplace inhibits the general success of women in corporate America.

Considerations

As with any form of discrimination, if a worker views queen bee syndrome in action in her workplace, she should approach a human resources representative or a trusted superior to voice a complaint. Queen bee syndrome should not be allowed to inhibit the success of women in an organization.

References

• Office Queen Bees Hold Back Women's Careers