Queen bee syndrome is a social phenomenon where women in positions of authority or power treat subordinate females worse than males, purely based on gender.
[8] It has been considered that part of the reason "queen bee" behavior has been unaddressed for so long is because contrary to men, when women in senior professional positions make judgements about their female subordinates, often no one will think to question whether or not it constitutes a form of gender discrimination.
[7] Queen bee syndrome could be partially attributed to long-standing societal gender stereotypes wherein women are perceived to be lacking traditional leadership and achievement-oriented qualities (i.e., assertiveness, decisiveness) — often seen as synonymous with masculinity.
With few top spots available to women "queen bees" feel they need to protect their place by exhibiting "masculine" traits as a form of self-group distancing.
[9] In a 1976 study by Ruble & Higgins, their research suggested that when women are in the minority of a group, which in high-level professional sectors is often the case, they described themselves in more "masculine" terms.
[11] Coming into adolescence and adulthood, moving into leadership positions may pose a challenge for women who haven't been afforded the same opportunities to lead as their male counterparts.
[3] Naomi Ellemers posited that the queen bee phenomenon is a consequence of gender-based discrimination inflicted on women trying to get ahead in their careers.
[10] Researchers have hypothesized[13] that queen bee behavior may be developed by women who have achieved senior positions in their respective fields as a way to defend themselves against the gender bias experienced in the workplace.
Distancing themselves from female subordinates attempting to advance in their own careers allows "queen bees" to connect with their male colleagues while demonstrating stereotypically masculine qualities such as assertiveness or leadership, which are attributed to success.
By exhibiting these "masculine" traits, "queen bees" further legitimize their right to be in important professional positions as well as attaining job security by showing commitment to their careers.
In this case, the "queen bee" might worry the female candidate would reflect negatively on her, as women in male-dominated workplaces are often grouped together by social categorization.
For women in the workplace, social categorization works to their disadvantage as they are assigned stereotypically feminine traits such as being agreeable, helpful, sympathetic, and kind — and therefore perceived as less capable in leadership roles.
More often than not, it seems women and people of colour are scarcely included in these exclusive groups due to affinity bias — the tendency to favour those similar to us — exhibited by their male superiors.
[12][21] In social psychology, there is another term, similarity attraction, which may contribute to why high-level male executives tend to promote men over equally-qualified women.
Verbal and indirect aggression requires a degree of social intelligence and understanding of interpersonal relationships, skills that girls tend to develop earlier than boys (around the age of 8).
A 2005 study in Britain asked university students to report how often they either experienced, or participated in forms of indirect aggression (specifically social exclusion, use of malicious humour, and guilt induction).
[27] Recent research, that uses a robust causal identification mechanism (i.e., regression discontinuity design), strongly contests the existence of the queen bee phenomenon.
[6] In her book, Lean In, chief operating officer of Facebook, Sheryl Sandberg deplored the syndrome writing, "Often, without realizing it, women internalize disparaging cultural attitudes and then echo them back".