Queen Bee Syndrome

Queen bee syndrome was first defined by G.L. Staines, T.E. Jayaratne, and C. Tavris in 1973. It describes a woman in a position of authority who views or treats subordinates more critically if they are female.

This phenomenon has been documented by several studies. In another study, scientists from the University of Toronto speculated that the queen bee syndrome may be the reason that women find it more stressful to work for female managers; no difference was found in stress levels for male workers.

An alternate, though closely related, definition describes a queen bee as one who has succeeded in her career, but refuses to help other women do the same.

In adolescence

In recent years, research has shown that adolescent girls form (often small) groups called cliques, which are often created based on a shared characteristic or quality of the members such as attractiveness or popularity. Association with such a group is often wanted by those who are part of the larger, all encompassing group, such as a class or school. It is the association with these groups that brings an individual similar treatment.

Notable cases

A popular example of a movie based on girls with queen bee syndrome is the 2004 film, Mean Girls. The authorized biographer of Margaret Thatcher, Charles Moore, stated in an interview his belief that the former British prime minister had herself suffered from the syndrome.

In the workplace

Recent research has postulated that queen bee syndrome may be a product of certain cultural influences, especially those related to the modern workplace.

Researchers have hypothesized that queen bee behavior may be developed by women who have achieved high workplace positions within their respective fields as a way to defend against any gender bias found in their cultures. By opposing attempts of subordinates of their own sex to advance in career paths, women displaying queen bee behavior try to fit in with their male counterparts by adhering to the cultural stigmas placed on gender in the workplace. Distancing themselves from female subordinates can allow for the opportunity to show more masculine qualities, stereotypically seen as more culturally valuable and professional. By showing these supposedly important masculine qualities, women displaying queen bee behavior seek to further legitimize their right to be in important professional positions as well as attaining job security by showing commitment to their professional roles.

Criticisms of the theory

Recent research, that uses a robust causal identification mechanism (i.e., regression discontinuity design), strongly contests the existence of the queen bee phenomenon; the results of this study suggest that previous research was biased either by eliciting confirming cases (as is often done in qualitative research) or that observational data based on questionnaire measures was biased because of endogeneity issues.

There are also doubts as to whether Queen Bee Syndrome is still in effect in academia. Queen Bee Syndrome was first widely discussed 15 years ago so it seems fair to question whether it is still an issue that women face in the workplace and academia.

See also