Queen bee (sociology)

A queen bee is the leader of a female group, such as a clique. The term has been applied in several social settings.

Businesses

In a business environment, "queen bee" may refer to a woman in upper management who advanced in the ranks without any help of any type of affirmative action programs. Many of those executive women tend to be politically conservative and they choose not to publicly identify with feminism. They often see other, usually younger, women as competitors and will refuse to help them advance within a company, preferring to mentor a male over a female employee. Some such "queen bees" may actively take steps to hinder another woman's advancement as they are seen as direct competitors.[1] Such tactics are sometimes referred to as heterophily (in the sense of positive preference and favoritism for opposite-sex colleagues) or the queen bee syndrome.[2]

The term "loophole woman", coined by Caroline Bird in her book Born Female: The High Cost of Keeping Women Down (1968), has a similar meaning. Marie Mullaney defines the loophole woman as one who, "successful in a predominantly male field like law, business or medicine, is opposed to other women's attaining similar levels of success. Such success, if attained by women on a large scale, would detract from, if not substantially reduce, her own status and importance."[3] (The term "honorary male" is related, but does not imply opposition to other women's success).

Schools

A queen bee in a school setting is sometimes referred to as a school diva or school princess. These queen bees are often stereotyped in the media as being beautiful, charismatic, manipulative, and wealthy, holding positions of high social status, such as being head cheerleader (or being the captain of some other, usually an all-girl, sports team), the Homecoming or Prom Queen (or both).[4] The phenomenon of queen bees is common in finishing schools.[5]

Queen bees may wield substantial influence and power over their cliques, and are considered role models by clique members and outsiders. Her actions are closely followed and imitated.[6] Sussana Stern identifies the following qualities as characteristic of queen bees:[7]

Fictional portrayals of queen bees in schools include the films Heathers and Mean Girls. The latter was partially adapted from the nonfiction book Queen Bees and Wannabes. The television series Gossip Girl is highlighted for its portrayal of Blair Waldorf as a queen bee, as she has a league of minions for friends and is frequently referred as 'Queen B' by her peers. Another television series Pretty Little Liars is also highlighted for its portrayal of Alison DiLaurentis as queen bee, as she has a clique, seems to be bossy and mean to people who are not her friends, and everyone treats her as a Queen. She is sometimes referred as 'Queen Ali'. Quinn Fabray from Glee is also described as "queen bee" due to her being rich, popular, beautiful and head cheerleader.

The stereotype on queen bees has also become a stock character.

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See also

References
  1. "Article". Timesonline.co.uk. Archived from the original on 2011-06-04. Retrieved 2014-02-23.(subscription required)
  2. Cooper, Virginia W. (1997). "Homophily or the Queen Bee Syndrome: Female Evaluation of Female Leadership". Small Group Research. Sage Publications. 28 (4): 483–499. doi:10.1177/1046496497284001.
  3. Mullaney, Marie (1984). "Gender and the Socialist Revolutionary Role". Historical Reflections. 11 (2): 147. JSTOR 41298827.
  4. Tracy, K. (2003) The Girl's Got Bite: The Original Unauthorized Guide to Buffy's World. Macmillan. p 37.
  5. Raines, J.M. (2003) Beautylicious!: The Black Girl's Guide to the Fabulous Life. Harlem Moon Publishers. p 13.
  6. Wiseman, Rosalind (9 December 2011). "Girls' Cliques: What Role Does Your Daughter Play?". iVillage. Retrieved 3 December 2012.
  7. Stern, Sussana (2001) Sexual Selves on the World Wide Web: Adolescent Girls' Home Pages as Sites for Sexual Self-Expression; Sexual Teens, Sexual Media, Lawrence Erlbaum Associates

Further reading
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