Queen Bees in Zimbabwe: Exploring the Experiences of Women Leaders Reluctant to promote other Women in the Workplace

Abstract

This study explores the motivations of women leaders who express reluctancy to promote other women in the workplace in Zimbabwe. This study is motivated by the realisation that, though contemporary literature advocates that women are underrepresented in leadership positions, there seems to exist a culture that reflect that the few women in leadership positions (Queen Bees) inhibit the ascension of fellow women into lucrative leadership positions. This study zeroed on the case study approach with 20 judgementally sampled female leaders in the Zimbabwean banking sector. Semi-structured interview was employed to collect data. Thematic analysis was used to analyse the data. Findings from the study revealed major themes of competition where female leaders admitted to refusing to elevate other women because they fear competition from them hence they remove any type of value threats from subordinates; their leadership style is mainly autocratic towards their female subordinates than their male subordinates and lastly theme being systematic discrimination when it comes to promotion, recruitment, employment and remuneration of female employees in the banking sector. However, Queen Bees prefer working with males at the top than females who lack the right attitude towards their work. It was recommended that further researches to be done on strategies to address negative Queen Bees effects in organisations to guarantee the career advancement of junior women in the banking sector.