In the Office, Women Make Better Bullies Than Men

May 2nd, 2012 - By Charlotte Young

http://thegrandnarrative.files.wordpress.com

As women begin to equally fill spots in the workplace, office harassment is on the rise. But the harassment isn’t coming from the men. As Business Insider reports, workplace bullying is on the rise, and the worst offenses come from woman-on-woman tension.

According to the Workplace Bullying Institute, three out of four women are bullied by female colleagues. But why are women choosing to tear each other down as they succeed rather than empower each other? Huffington Post’s Barbara Greenberg believes that women take out their insecurities dealing with their multiple roles as a wife, employee and a mother on the co-workers who they believe are better at multi-tasking.

A Forbes article reveals that office bullying is four time more common than sexual or racial discrimination. It also points out that women are taught to be critical of one another from an early age. It’s an ingrained bad habit that simply doesn’t seem to go away in adulthood. Women bullies often act indirectly. They will befriend co-workers and gain trust before spilling all the personal secrets of their “new friend” to the rest of the office, resulting in humiliation. Other times women will reach a certain level in their careers and instead of helping others achieve greatness, they choose instead to shut and lock the door behind them, making it harder for other women to succeed.

It’s a difficult situation to navigate in the professional world. But for those who have been bullied, know that there are solutions. Report any incidences of abuse to your supervisor or manager. Do not focus on your emotional trauma; instead explain how a person is affecting your productivity and work ethic. When the company’s financial gain is at risk, most likely they’ll step in to look at the situation.

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  • SCA

    Girls gain their emotional intelligence  quicker than boys, and with that ability comes their capabilities for emotional violence.  And it becomes there weapon of choice from a young age.

    All that stuff about insecurities is probably off mark.  Most bullies have high levels of confidence because they feel they have power.

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  • http://twitter.com/vashtikk11 ♥♡PURE ESTROGEN♡♥

    Yeah, women attack. You can’t be pretty, smart, well behaved, etc. at the workplace without catching some serious fire. Some women can’t stand seeing others who appear to have a better work ethic and attitude. So sad, but true. I’ve felt this before I even spoke to the person…the worst part is that some of them are big on intimidation. You just have to learn to be reserved and act like nothing bothers you. They’ll get the hint. 

    • D. Rose in the paint

       True!! But it depends on the type of women….from my 7+ years of experience in offices from entry level to management I’ve seen patterns. The worst women to work with are uneducated classless ghetto black women…as much as I hate to say it…you dont want these types in an authority position over you…these women are hard workers for sure, which is usually how they get their position, BUT, they have baggage baggage baggage….they have resentment, attitude, pettiness, childishness, envious, jealous,  they can not handle power!! They bring their ghetto mentality to the office, ESPECIALLY when their subordinates are other black people!!

      • Vee

        OMG D Rose this is so true…that ghetto hood mentality needs to shut off before the enter the door of your place  of business.

      • http://twitter.com/vashtikk11 ♥PURE ESTROGEN♥

        Rotfl. I’m so late seeing this. I 100% agree with you.

    • Soso

      For me, acting reserved and like nothing bothered me angered my bullies even more. If I let the pain show, they felt satisfied and let me be for the time being. But when I held my head up high and ignored them, I was soon fired. This happened to me twice. They seemed offended by my lack of caring and that they couldn’t get to me, made up some phony excuse about the company losing money and (laid me off) let me go. I don’t know what to do anymore.

      • http://twitter.com/vashtikk11 ♥PURE ESTROGEN♥

        That happened to my sister. She didn’t get fired, but a coworker ( who was stealing funds) tried to pin it on her. The lady got caught in a lie though. I’m so sorry that happened, but when people try to bring you down, they might be making room for something better for you. :)

  • Rah Truth

    I believe women are more emotional and catty than men. We often hold on to things for years, and then try to turn our friends against the other who “wronged” us, as well. I also ,believe we can be more petty, arguing about things men couldn’t care less about.

    • Truth0312

      I think men are just as emotional and petty as women, however, it manifests itself in a different way.  They’re conditioned to keep those feelings stitched up, but if you’ve had a boyfriend or close guy friend; you’ll see that most of the same feelings still exist.  I do think we tend to hold grudges longer than men do, though.  Sadly, I’m not surprised by these results, as women are conditioned to be catty and critical of each other.  Thank God the women role models in my family are above this kind of foolishness.  I never felt the need to tear another woman down to make myself feel good.  I was a victim of verbal bullying in school, so I can empathize. Years later, I’m continually disappointed by how many folks have deep insecurities that they project onto others.  Almost fifty years after women’s lib, I will not and cannot give women like this a pass.  If you can’t step your game up in the workplace or at home, that’s YOUR issue.  Stop making it everybody else’s.  

      • Vee

        We do hold on to grudges longer than men..men physically fight and then they are friends.

  • Vee

    It also points out that women are taught to be critical of one another
    from an early age. 

    This is sad but true. Women are taught cattiness before puberty..i.e.  from their moms, aunts, cousin, sisters, etc…The bullying goes on a lot in the work place. We are taught to be so competitive with each other especially when it comes to the opposite sex.

  • L-Boogie

    Not shocked at all.