Queen Bee syndrome!

A queen may want a king, but don't get it twisted, she can run the castle by herself!

I LOOK Amazing and I know it!

My instant thought "QBS": Women leaders are role models and mentors to other women and girls."

But what if the opposite was true?

Instead of acting as mentors could successful female bosses be pulling up the ladder behind them because they perceive other women as a threat?

This is the theory known as Queen Bee Syndrome (QBS)

First let me state that this was defined by psychologists at the University of Michigan in 1973, Queen Bee syndrome describes a woman in a position of authority in a male-dominated environment who treats subordinates more critically if they are female.

Prof Dame Sally Davies, England's first female chief medical officer, used the term in 2014 when describing her own experiences in the health sector.

"I saw it particularly in medicine - queen bees preening and enjoying being the only woman," she said.

In recent decades, there has been a substantial increase in the number of women in the workplace. But when it comes to rising to the top, women remain under-represented at boardroom levels.

Deloitte's study looked at 7,000 companies in 44 countries and found women made up just 15% of corporate boards around the world.

In the UK progress is being made, albeit slowly. The number of FTSE 100 companies where women make up 33% of their boards increased from 19% to 28% in the past year.

So is "queen bee behaviour" hindering women's progress?

Opinions on the subject is divided.

One recent study in the US argues the phenomenon does exist.

Prof Joyce Benenson, a psychologist based at Emmanuel College in the US, carried out an experiment in which volunteers were asked to split money with a fictitious same-sex partner. The leader could keep as much or as little money as he or she wanted. Prof Benenson found that the high status men were consistently more willing to reward their lower status colleagues than the high status women. She says the findings are indicative of queen bee behaviour and that "women have a really hard time competing with other women". So why are the women less generous to other women? My take is let's put it down to evolution, women are not used to forming tight same-sex groups in the way that men do. My B.A.D. reference manual is "Men are from Mars and women are from Venus" This QBS goes back to a time, when females had to compete for mates and for resources for their children. Prof Benenson acknowledges that her research has been controversial.

When asked about the reaction from the academic community, she says: "Completely negative. "It's hard for me but I try to be objective. I would like women to do better."

While Prof Benenson believes women have evolved to behave in certain ways, other academics argue that Queen Bee behaviour - where it does exist - is actually a product of discrimination perpetuated by men. LOL. They discovered when a woman had been appointed as a chief executive, other women were more likely to be promoted to senior positions. But when a company was headed by a man, it was much harder for more than one woman to make it into senior management levels. The research found that the probability of a second woman becoming a senior manager fell by 51% when the chief executive was male. The study argued an "implicit quota" was to blame. It found that male-dominated leadership teams felt pressure to increase women's representation and would make an effort to have a small number of women in top management. Queen bee syndrome is a controversial subject.

The theory seeks to establish a cause and effect relationship between perceived female behaviour traits and the lack of representation at the top of management.

In doing so it makes sweeping generalisations about the way all women behave.

This is a very difficult link to prove. It also ignores the role that men may play.

The very existence of the term is perhaps one of many examples of sexism at work.

As Sheryl Sandberg, Facebook's chief operating officer, observed last year: "Women aren't any meaner to women than men are to one another. Women are just expected to be nicer".

Most research suggests that since the concept first gained traction in the 1970s, queen bee syndrome has lost its sting.

Naomi Ellemers, a professor from Utrecht University in the Netherlands, has been researching gender inequality in the workplace for 20 years.

She says queen bee syndrome is an unhelpful label because the term suggests women are the problem.

"It's not a case of women hindering other women and men can't do anything about it," she says.

Prof Ellemers says a queen bee behaviour is a response to sexism, where some women try to distance themselves from other women.

In 2011, Prof Ellemers and her colleagues carried out a study asking Dutch policewomen to recall specific experiences of being discriminated against.

They found that being reminded of gender discrimination prompted participants to downplay the sexism they had experienced.

It also triggered queen bee behaviour among policewomen who identified weakly with other women at work.

"They are being taught to be successful in the organisation you need to adopt male characteristics," Prof Ellemers says.

"They cope with gender bias by demonstrating they are different from other women."

These women use phrases such as: "I'm not like the other women, I'm much more ambitious."

Prof Ellemers calls this "self-group distancing" - a response that is also found among other groups that are under-represented at work - and argues that the queen bee syndrome is a product of gender stereotyping. 

Final Thoughts

Who would have thought that an Argentina Latina
would become Queen of the Netherlands?

Hmmm! Let just say I love strong independent women, but I have to look at things in the World where men still dominate. Women who are strong Queens usually don't crown a man King, he will always remain a Prince... or a baron, a Duke.... just look at the Kingdoms of the EU nations, Queen Elizabeth's husband remained a Prince. Former Dutch Queen Beatrix and her mother Queen Juliana both their husbands remain Prince Clause and Prince Bernhard. while their son and grandson became King Willem-Alexander and his wife became Queen Maxima.

So ladies if you want a King let him crown you his Queen. otherwise he will be playing second violin to you. OK maybe that works for you!