Taking The Sting Out Of The Queen Bee
In their new book, Women Kind, Dr Kirstin Ferguson and Catherine Fox debunk the popular myth that women tend to turn on each other in the workplace.
In their new book, Women Kind, Dr Kirstin Ferguson and Catherine Fox debunk the popular myth that women tend to turn on each other in the workplace.
We have all seen plenty of poor behaviour from men and women at work, and we have suffered under the occasional nasty female boss, too — but this pales into insignificance when compared to the enormous support and life-enhancing company we have received from our women friends, colleagues and networks. We also couldn’t help noticing that men’s failure to support or mentor peers and younger colleagues doesn’t get noticed as much, or labelled in the same way; there just doesn’t seem to be an equivalent term for it.
Australia’s Sex Discrimination Commissioner, Kate Jenkins, believes criticising women for not supporting each other can also be used as an excuse for doing nothing about gender barriers. “It’s part of this idea that gender equality is a battle of the sexes, and feeds into gender stereotypes that women have to all get along and if not, then there’s something not okay with that. Not all men support other men. Why should all women support other women?”
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