In her paper on the topic published in the journal Development and Learning in Organisations, Harvey draws awareness to the problem of female bullying in the workplace through a combination of studies, practical experience and observations.

This “negative woman-on-woman behaviour”, she says, is something that “can be ignored” by organisations despite its detrimental impact.

“This adds a new layer of complexity to the old idea that it is sexist men who hold women back,” says Harvey, who is also the founder of global network Tech Women Today. “If organisations want to increase the number of women in senior roles then they need to take account of the queen bee problem.

“I have definitely experienced it. Just when you might have expected women to band together and support each other, they were instead diminishing each other — in my case, talking about me or excluding me.”

Are bullying "Queen Bees" holding you back in the workplace?