- 07/09 at 12pm: Queen Bee talk – Margaret Ormiston
Accumulated research has found that female leaders in male-dominated environments often experience gender discrimination that causes them to disassociate from their gender identity and be less supportive of their female subordinates (the Queen Bee phenomenon). In a series of studies, we consider how female subordinates respond to female leaders who engage in Queen Bee behaviors. We argue that female leaders engaging in Queen Bee behaviors cause female subordinates to feel uncertain about whether they belong in their organizations. In turn, this belonging uncertainty leads female subordinates to differentiate themselves from female leaders, reduce leadership aspirations, and increase turnover intentions. We test our predictions through an interview study of female employees as well as two experimental studies and find support for our predictions. Practical considerations for how to better support junior women colleagues as well as how to advocate for one’s own career are discussed.
Margaret Ormiston’s research examines top management teams and small groups to determine how successful organizations thrive with a particular focus on understanding the role of gender in leadership.
Margaret received her doctorate in Business Administration and Industrial Relations from University of California, Berkeley. Prior to receiving her doctorate, Margaret received her Bachelors of Arts from University of California, Los Angeles where she graduated with departmental honors, summa cum laude and was inducted into the Phi Beta Kappa honors society. After graduation she worked as a research analyst at the Center for Effective Organizations, at the University of Southern California and as a research analyst at a litigation consulting firm in Los Angeles. She has held positions at London Business School and George Washington University where she is currently an associate professor teaching on the MBA, doctoral and undergraduate programs in Washington, D.C. She also teaches executive education programs at London Business School.
- 07/30 at 5pm: Book Club – Hood Feminism: Notes from the Women That a Movement Forgot by Mikki Kendall
From Frugal Bookstore:
A potent and electrifying critique of today’s feminist movement announcing a fresh new voice in Black feminism
Today’s feminist movement has a glaring blind spot, and paradoxically, it is women. Mainstream feminists rarely talk about meeting basic needs as a feminist issue, argues Mikki Kendall, but food insecurity, access to quality education, safe neighborhoods, a living wage, and medical care are all feminist issues. All too often, however, the focus is not on basic survival for the many, but on increasing privilege for the few. That feminists refuse to prioritize these issues has only exacerbated the age-old problem of both internecine discord, and women who rebuff at carrying the title. Moreover, prominent white feminists broadly suffer from their own myopia with regard to how things like race, class, sexual orientation, and ability intersect with gender. How can we stand in solidarity as a movement, Kendall asks, when there is the distinct likelihood that some women are oppressing others?
In her searing collection of essays, Mikki Kendall takes aim at the legitimacy of the modern feminist movement arguing that it has chronically failed to address the needs of all but a few women. Drawing on her own experiences with hunger, violence, and hyper-sexualization, along with incisive commentary on politics, pop culture, the stigma of mental health, and more, Hood Feminism delivers an irrefutable indictment of a movement in flux. An unforgettable debut, Kendall has written a ferocious clarion call to all would-be feminists to live out the true mandate of the movement in thought and in deed.
