Why so few women in science? The ‘Queen Bee Syndrome’

It has been obvious for many years that there is a conspicuous lack of female scientists at the highest level. While around half of University students are female, less than a quarter of academics are female, and even less women are present in the highest academic ranks.

In a new study reported in the British Journal of Social Psychology on Wednesday 22 September 2004, Dr Naomi Ellemers from Leiden University and colleagues from the Netherlands and Italy, tried to evaluate these discrepancies in 212 male and females beginning their scientific careers.

Two main explanations have been proposed for the lack of female scientists at the highest levels. The first is that due to societal pressures to be a homemaker and mother, women are less committed to pursuing a scientific career. The second explanation argues that while women may be just as committed as men, senior scientists are biased against young female researchers, and view them as being less committed.

In fact, the study showed that male and female PhD students showed equal work commitment and work satisfaction. However, senior researchers showed a consistent bias against the females, as they felt they showed less commitment to their careers. Interestingly, such negative stereotypes were coming not from senior men but from women!

Dr Ellemers called this the 'Queen Bee Syndrome': the fact that women who are individually successful in male-dominated environments are more likely to endorse gender stereotypes. This is as a consequence of their own struggles to show how they differ from "regularly" women.

Women may thus experience greater gender sexism by other women than men, a fact which is often overlooked when attempts are made to improve the working environment.