Don’t blame the queen bee, blame the hive!
Women in senior management positions, even when they recognize the barriers faced by other women, can be reluctant to champion women’s issues due to pressures to ‘fit in’ to a management culture dominated by men.
Women in leadership positions often navigate a complicated social dynamic of being both women and managers among peers who are mostly male. They are expected to show solidarity by supporting other women but must also conform to expectations in management spaces dominated by men that continue to exclude women.
Senior women who are expected to advocate for and represent their gender as a “Woman in Management” are labelled “Queen Bee”, when they are unwilling to take on this role or are perceived to ignore the professional advancement of other women. This ‘blame the woman’ view ignores the existing inequalities in management spaces that influence individual women’s actions.
A 2006 study conducted interviews with four women in senior management positions at the UK Housing Sector and four senior women academics about their roles as supporters of other women, and how the labels of “queen bee” and “woman in management” negatively affect their relationships with other women. Senior women report recognizing the barriers other women face. Yet they are reluctant to embrace their “woman in management” role to champion women’s issues or show solidarity for other women due to pressure to ‘fit in’ with their predominantly male peers.
However, instead of blaming the ‘hive’ for exclusionary practices, the ‘queen bee’ label blames women, adding to the discrimination and difficulties women in leadership face. This research adds nuance and insight to overly simplistic descriptions of the roles of women in senior management. Richer stories need to be told about solidarity behaviours and the role of the overall culture, the ‘hive’ in maintaining a status quo that hurts women at all levels.
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Study Details
Sample size(s): n=8 (4 from each group of participants)
Participants: Women in senior management in the UK Housing Sector, and academic women associated with a UK Business and Management School.
Design: Qualitative, biographical semi-structured interviews
Reference:
Mavin, S. (2006). Venus envy 2: Sisterhood, queen bees and female misogyny in management. Women in Management Review. 21(5), 349–364. https://doi.org/10.1108/09649420610676172
Summarized by WinSights team members: Emily Ana Butler, Bianca Dreyer, Catherine Palm & Brittney G. Borowiec
