Women Bullying Women: time to change the polarity
Submitted by Dr. Gwenn Is In
Just over a year ago, I blogged about an ABC News story about bullying that gave data that women are more likely in the workplace to be bullied by other women. This week on MomLogic, blogger Ronda Kaysen posted an almost identical post.
Reading Ronda’s post I was filled with mixed emotions. It’s a relief the cat’s out of the bag. Awareness does go a long way in helping find solutions so the young women of tomorrow, including our daughters, will be spared the pain many of us have endured. Yet, it’s disheartening that young women of today are still being bullied. Awareness becomes empty talk if we don’t couple it with concrete solutions for change.
Why is bullying of women in the workplace still such a major problem? Kayson offers this explanation for why we may which I completely agree with:
“…although women now make up more than 50 percent of the workforce, only 15.7 percent of Fortune 500 officers and 15.2 percent of directors are women, according to a 2008 census by the research group Catalyst.
Maybe women are part of the problem. Maybe we’re living up to the old adage of the crab in the barrel, where one crab tries to climb out of a barrel and all the other doomed crabs drag him (or in this case, her) back down.”
Think of women like magnets. Most are neutral in polarity and get along with everyone. Some are slightly polarized and figure out how to work together regardless of the properties of the other women. But, some women are strongly polarized and if the same polarity, like both being positive or both negative, they will repel each other as they come in proximity to each other. I picture bullies as being the strongly polarized sort - they sort of repel everyone a bit, even the ones they seem to get along with.
I’m reminded of an adage my daughters were taught in elementary school that I’ve posted before on this blog: don’t blow out my candle to make yours shine brighter.
It’s time we insist on reasonable work places that are bully-free. We’ve all worked too hard to get where we are to put up with anything less. Our candles deserve to shine bright in the work place! The only candles that should be blown out are the ones held by the bullies.
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