Queen Bee Syndrome at the Workplace; Perspectives of Female Business Students at a South African Private University

Abstract

It has been found out that some female leaders exercise certain behavioural traits in the workplace that are discriminatory towards other females. This behaviour is referred to as the Queen Bee Syndrome. To shed light on the syndrome, this paper aims to discover the perceptions of final year female Bachelor of Commerce (BCom) students in a South African private university about their opinions on female leadership and to discover the prevalence of the Queen Bee Syndrome. Qualitative interviews were conducted on final year female students in a South African private university in Pietermaritzburg. The sample was obtained using snowball sampling method. The information gathered was analysed using content analysis. The key discoveries made were that the female students generally would prefer to work with a male manger due to the negative characteristics of competitiveness, emotionality and jealousy that was associated with the female leaders they have worked with. Respondents were also of the opinion that the Queen Bee Syndrome exists and that it is a resultant of society norms spilling over into the workplace. It is believed that social norms contribute to this problem, hence it is crucial that discriminatory behaviour in society be alleviated to strengthen and support the current women movement fighting for equality.