Expectations of women in leadership and management - advancement through solidarity?

This chapter explores how negative relations between women undermine assumptions of sisterhood and solidarity behaviour. The central issues under discussion are firstly, the attention to solidarity behaviour as a means of advancing women in management and the assumption that women will align themselves with other women. Secondly, the expectations of senior women in relation to other women in management and thirdly, raising negative relations and processes of female misogyny between women without creating a 'blame the women' perspective. The chapter draws upon narrative data from two UK organizations to challenge the approach of solidarity behaviour, problematize the Queen Bee concept and highlight processes of female misogyny on relations between women in management. The chapter argues that rather than recommending senior women as mentors and role models, whilst blaming them for being more male than men, there is a need to refocus on challenging and changing the overall gendered social order impacting on women in management. The chapter offers an opportunity to reconsider relations between women and to question how the gendered social order encourages and exacerbates differences between women.