Saw this article on a friend’s Feed - what are your thoughts? What have your experience been?
Why Do Women Bully Each Other at Work?
Research suggests that conditions in the workplace might be to blame.
Trending Content
Career Resources
WSO Free Modeling Series - Now Open Through
May 31, 2024
9 Free Financial Modeling Lessons
Get instant access to lessons taught by experienced private equity pros and bulge bracket investment bankers including financial statement modeling, DCF, M&A, LBO, Comps and Excel Modeling.
+Bonus: Get 27 financial modeling templates in swipe file
+Bonus: Get 27 financial modeling templates in swipe file
Good article. Thanks for sharing. Let me leave this here: Every discussion on WSO about women in finance
Great Simpsons reference aside, it's sad that this the reality of the situation on such discussions
Painfully accurate
I thought it was known women are more socially vicious among themselves than men? Look at all the gossip stereotypes, they exist for a reason. Growing up in a family of almost all girls (Asian extended side is a total matriarchy) vs a best friend who had the opposite (all guys) I've seen first hand how the dynamics differ. The guys will physically beat up on each other a lot sure, but the girls will psychologically torture each other through rumors and put downs to the point of permanent emotional harm. I think it's pretty tough to blame the workplace here. Even when I was in college and worked part-time in regular retail or as a server, the teams that had majority female leadership in my experience seemed to have more infighting when it came to other female employees vs teams with male leadership and how they acted with male employee. I would see female managers act more territorial and aggressive towards female employees who either made an innocent mistake or appeared to be "going over" the managers head and witnessed lessr-to-no reaction when male employees made the same error.
Is it wrong to point out that women on average value work/life balance more? Then adjust for the fact that many women who get to the senior level of these high performing and demanding careers like law and finance will have often sacrificed their personal lives and essentially dedicated themselves to the job to get where they are. It makes sense that they might experience resentment towards female subordinates who don't share their career views/orientation. Just like how in banking there are plenty of people who want to lump work onto analysts because "that's how it was in my day", these same women who blazed trails through unforgiving career paths now see how the times are changing to make things more open to women and perceive the new generation as not working nearly as hard as they did to get to the same place.
Even in finance, for my first 2 jobs my bosses were a woman CEO and manager. They almost exclusively seemed to work with male hires and even around us occasionally talked shit about other female coworkers over seemingly innocuous reasons such as "what she's wearing looks so bad on her" and "she's such a two-faced little bitch" after holding what seemed like very civil conversations with the other party. I've never experienced this same type of venom from male bosses regarding male employees. Granted, maybe this is BECAUSE I'm male and my sample size is small which goes to support this isn't the norm. But in my experience, women cutting down on other women more than men is a pretty common occurrence.
Louis C.K. I think said something along the lines of "You can measure the damage sons do in your replacement costs today and daughters in your therapy costs down the road.
Your job is stressful & difficult. You get paid for the stress. It will be competitive. No one is on your side. Nothing like a bit of a reality check for these women who think that the world is just waiting for them. Comedian Bill Burr put it nicely, "We're all eating a giant shit sandwich out here. Nobody cares".
From the article: "Many women told me that men had undermined them as well, but it somehow felt different—worse—when it happened at the hands of a woman, a supposed ally".
So silly that they thought some random women would look out for them just because they're both women.
Seriously. If it's for some reason expected that people should stick together because they both happen to have a vagina, why shouldn't it be perfectly acceptable for fellow penises to do the same?
The third type of bitch doesn't seem that specific to women at all. I feel like other than the backstabbing and outlandish reactions, a lot of this seems normal with maybe the women's victim mentality kicking in, perceiving this as unfair and abnormal.
And, I'm sure, women being unwilling to work together from a biological/evolutionary standpoint goes both ways, for both the underlings and the senior people.
Sed quibusdam voluptatem non recusandae dolorum eveniet totam dolor. Sequi exercitationem error illum at voluptatem doloribus. Quas maiores dolorem consequatur et. Deleniti quasi laudantium ex cumque ea voluptas. Aspernatur ea deserunt ullam officiis iusto in voluptas.
Esse natus molestiae quo dolore. Et ut ab ducimus eaque. Eos expedita ea in enim ratione mollitia saepe nobis.
Facilis voluptates ab et dolores incidunt voluptates. Expedita qui et eius quo. Quis cumque cupiditate saepe maiores deleniti laudantium. Et aliquam quo nihil quia.
Aut enim autem dolorem nihil officiis enim iusto nihil. Cum provident adipisci tenetur numquam perspiciatis. In nobis possimus sapiente explicabo consequuntur architecto.
See All Comments - 100% Free
WSO depends on everyone being able to pitch in when they know something. Unlock with your email and get bonus: 6 financial modeling lessons free ($199 value)
or Unlock with your social account...