STOP PUNISHING MINORITIES FOR PROMOTING DIVERSITY

Sir,

Women are taught from a young age to be cautious of their female friends and to view them as threats and competition. Competition can be healthy, but being taught to compete for men, or who is prettier, has a better hairstyle or is more popular, that is no healthy competition at all. Competition that matters should be something worth celebrating that ‘win’ for – something that will contribute to the economic, political and social advancement of society. But even though socialisation teaches women to compete, when women decide to succumb to societal expectations, they are labelled with names. Competitive women are often referred to as Queen Bees, mean girls or catty. What is the derogatory name for competitive men? It doesn’t exist.

World

In the professional world there are fewer women who were mentored by men, than those mentored by women. At home, there are more female relatives than male relatives who are willing to help other female relatives, especially when it comes to caring for children. We rarely ever hear anyone saying, ‘My children live with my father’ or ‘I grew up living with my uncle’. It is usually a female relative offering to help financially or provide shelter for children of relatives. And during funerals, it is always women sitting around the bereaved woman. When a new baby arrives, it is other women who bring gifts and even teach the new mother how to care for the young one. So where exactly is this myth ‘women can’t support each other’ coming from, and who started it?

Study

A study done by strategy professors over a period of 20 years revealed that when one woman reached senior management, it was 51 per cent less likely that a second woman would make it. But the person blocking the second woman’s path isn’t usually a woman; it is a male chief executive. When a woman is made chief executive, the opposite is true. Women aren’t any meaner to women than men are to one another. Women are just expected to be nicer. We stereotype men as aggressive and women as kind. So, in reality, Queen Bees aren’t a reason for inequality but rather a result of inequality. This ‘Queen Bee’ behaviour isn’t inherently female. It’s a natural way we react to discrimination when we belong to a non-dominant group. Fearing that their group isn’t valued, some members distance themselves from their own kind. They internalise cultural biases and avoid affiliating with groups that are seen as having low status.

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