The other day I listened to a CD of a famous American comedian and actor named Chris Rock. In one particular sketch, he was making fun of his "girlfriend" who would complain to him about her day at work as a gift wrapper in a middle-middle class shopping center.
The crux of this was that a fellow female co-worker was always "out to get her" and to "sabotage her career". Sorry about the cliché, ladies, but that sketch made me smile – and it seems I've been vindicated, if this recent article in the New York Times is anything to go by.
So why is it that women hate each other in the workplace? I've seen enough made romantic comedies to know that "she's competition" when it comes to getting "a man" (let's not even talk about how insulting such statements really are), but on a more serious note, the author of the article, Peggy Klaus, suggests that often, women view each other as their eventual replacement.
Such thinking hardly sounds rational to me. What makes anyone think that, if you were to be replaced at work that you company would hire someone just like you? Why would it be a requirement that a woman would have to replace a departing female? Wouldn't women be upset if a fired male colleague was automatically going to be replaced by another man?
A lot of this sounds like misguided anger. It would certainly make more sense, and probably be more beneficial if women were to band together and fight harder to earn equal pay for equal work and to shine the light on companies that refuse to join the 21st century than to attack each other.
Of course, I don't think for a second that all women subscribe to the narrow view that pits women against women in the workplace. However, it still must exist to some degree and where it does, these women need to face and target the real enemy of progress and advancement.
What you're missing is that women operate in a fundamentally different way to men; women don't hunt as a pack! Just as women's friendships are different to those of men, their work relationships will be too. And what is so insulting about women seeing one another as sexual competition? Sure, it glosses over the fact that it really is down to the guy to choose for himself - and that his criteria is his and his alone - but it's exactly the kind of thing men continue to say even in our 'enlightened age'. You only have to cast your eye across an open plan office or over the org chart to see evidence of male posturing, so don't be so surprised when women entering a predominantly male environment of management do exactly the same thing.
Perhaps those visionary women you're looking for who are going to change the world are expressing themselves in genuinely empowered ways - choosing to do the full time vital work of motherhood, or running their own businesses to get the family flexibility not afforded by big corporates.
I don't see that. There are indeed women at work whom I don't like. There are women I love to work with. There are men I don't like and ones I do. I don't think women hate women with greater frequency than they dislike men or than men dislike women.
Are you sure you're not seeing the stereotype because you expect it? Are you looking at the workplace through catfight glasses?
I don't see that. There are indeed women at work whom I don't like. There are women I love to work with. There are men I don't like and ones I do. I don't think women hate women with greater frequency than they dislike men or than men dislike women.
Are you sure you're not seeing the stereotype because you expect it? Are you looking at the workplace through catfight glasses?