From Regina George to Margaret Thatcher, the figure of the ‘queen bee’ – a powerful woman whose success in a male-dominated setting goes hand-in-hand with her subordination and mistreatment of other women – has long been a staple of pop culture and media narratives.

However, according to new research, the queen bee phenomenon may be a myth. A study published recently in The Leadership Quarterly journal showed that in environments where senior leaders are granted significant power and discretion, female leaders treat more junior female colleagues kindly and respectfully. They also appoint more subordinate women to managerial positions, which has the effect of reducing pay inequality relative to men in similar roles.

Researchers looked at 8.3 million organisations across 5,600 municipalities in Brazil, and found that when a woman was elected the leader of a public organisation there was a subsequent increase in the number of other women occupying senior and middle-management positions.

Paulo Arvate, professor of economics and strategy at the São Paolo Business School of Getulio Vargas Foundation, was the lead author on the study. He said he believed negative beliefs about the queen bee phenomenon had been influenced by anecdotal observations and flawed surveys rather than in-depth research.

“Previous research on the queen bee phenomenon stems from illustrative case studies that are not representative or surveys that do not establish the true causal effects of appointing women to power,” he said.

The ‘queen bee’ phenomenon is a myth, new research shows