Bitchy bosses hinder careers

04 January 2007

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Female rivalry is the key to the gender discrimination that exists in the workplace according to research.

The study found women were more likely than men to criticise the abilities of a female colleague when considering promotion because they regard their sex to be a threat to their position in the office.

Nicola Horlick, City financier said: "I have seen women in managerial positions discriminating against other women, possibly because they like to be the only female manager or woman in the workplace. Its called the 'queen bee syndrome'.

The findings based on an study of over 700 people found participants adopted a sterotypical view of masculine leadership leading to female bias. Rocio Garcia-Retamaro, author of the report said: "Female and older participants showed more prejudice against the (idea of a) female leader than did male and younger participants,”

“Female participants had a stronger tendency than male participants to view the female candidates as less qualified than the male candidate . . . they also thought that the female candidate would fare worse in the future in her job than the male candidate.”

Recent examples of female rivalry have come to light such as the case involving Helen Green, 36, a Deutsche Bank employee from London who in August was awarded nearly £800,000 in damages after two years of bullying by four female colleagues that eventually led to a nervous breakdown.

Adele Moore

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