Do sexist organizational cultures create the Queen Bee?

Area of Science:

• Organizational Psychology
• Social Psychology
• Gender Studies

Background:

• The "Queen Bee" phenomenon describes senior women in masculine cultures who distance themselves from their gender, potentially reinforcing gender stereotypes.
• This behavior is often misattributed to personality rather than organizational factors.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the "Queen Bee" phenomenon through the lens of social identity theory.
• To examine organizational conditions that may foster this behavior among women in senior positions.

Main Methods:

• An online survey was conducted with 94 women in senior positions in Dutch companies.
• The study assessed gender identification, experiences of gender discrimination, and indicators of the "Queen Bee" phenomenon (gender stereotyping, masculine self-descriptions).

Main Results:

• Women who started their careers with low gender identification and experienced high discrimination were more likely to exhibit "Queen Bee" behaviors.
• For women highly identified with their gender at the start, career discrimination was not linked to "Queen Bee" indicators.

Conclusions:

• The "Queen Bee" phenomenon can be understood as an individual mobility strategy used by women with low initial gender identification to cope with workplace discrimination.
• Organizational culture and experiences of discrimination significantly influence the emergence of this phenomenon.