The 'queen bee syndrome'—where senior women discriminate against junior female colleagues, especially with age—has been well-documented. As women's presence in the workforce grows, reports of rude behavior have surged. To investigate, researchers conducted three studies surveying full-time salaried men and women on unfriendly experiences in the past month. Participants rated incidents like condescension, humiliating comments, being ignored in meetings, or unprofessional treatment—separately for male and female colleagues.
Consistently across all three studies, women reported significantly higher rudeness from other women than men did. In essence, female colleagues directed more rudeness toward women than toward men, or than men directed toward women. Women exhibiting assertive, dominant traits—defying traditional gender norms—faced even more targeting from female peers compared to those adhering to such norms.
By contrast, men displaying assertiveness combined with warmth, diverging from male stereotypes, encountered less negativity from male colleagues. This highlights a key disparity: men earn 'social credit' for bucking gender expectations, while women do not.
