What every manager should know about the Queen Bee myth

"The term "Queen Bee" was coined by Graham Staines and his colleagues in a 1973 article in Psychology Today. The researchers observed a small number of senior women who appeared to distance themselves from other women in heavily male-dominated environments. Even in the original study, the behavior wasn't framed as spite. It was framed as adaptation. These women were navigating environments where there was room for exactly one of them to succeed. In a zero-sum world, survival strategies look a lot like coldness."

"One of the striking pieces of recent evidence comes from a 2024 study published in the Journal of Business Ethics. It examined what happens when women leaders distance themselves from other women. The surprising finding wasn't that distancing happens; it was who pays the price when it does. Female subordinates showed lower feelings of belonging, lower leadership ambition, and higher intentions to leave. Male subordinates, by contrast, were unaffected."

"The idea of the "Queen Bee" has been buzzing around corporate life for decades. You've heard the story: A woman finally breaks into senior leadership, only to turn around and block other women from rising behind her. She is territorial, icy, maybe even hostile. She has clawed her way to the top, the logic goes, and she intends to stay there alone."

Queen Bee stereotype portrays a senior woman as blocking other women from advancement, casting her as territorial, icy, or hostile. The label originated from a 1973 Psychology Today observation of a few senior women in male-dominated environments who distanced themselves as an adaptive response. These behaviors often reflect zero-sum competition where only one woman can succeed, producing survival strategies that appear cold. Recent research shows the stereotype reveals more about organizational cultures than individual women. A 2024 Journal of Business Ethics study found that when women leaders distance themselves, female subordinates experience lower belonging, reduced leadership ambition, and higher turnover intentions, while male subordinates remain unaffected.

Read at Fast Company