Perception of queen bee syndrome of women who received postgraduate education in Türkiye

An important problem that women face in business life is queen bee syndrome. Queen bees are senior women who have achieved success in male-dominated organizations by emphasizing how different they are from other women. Although the behavior of queen bees appears to contribute to gender inequality in career outcomes, queen bee behavior is actually a result of gender bias and social identity threat that causes gender inequality in career outcomes. These results suggest that gender-biased organizations shape women's behavior by encouraging women with low gender identity to segregate with other women and by portraying queen bee reactions as a way to achieve individual mobility. This syndrome is not only seen in female managers. In this context, the aim of the study is to examine the queen bee syndrome in women with postgraduate education in order to determine how it limits the career development of females in organizations. In the study, qualitative research method was used. The sample of the research consists of a total of 9 women who received postgraduate education at universities in Türkiye and whose advisors are women. In order to collect data, semi-structured questions consisting of 15 open-ended questions were conducted to these participants regarding the problems experienced by women with postgraduate education, examining factors such as "gender, marital status, study plan, relationship with their advisor or obstacles between them". The answers received to the questions were interpreted by content analysis. When the data obtained was deciphered, coded, and interpreted, it was seen that the women in the sample were not exposed to queen bee behavior by their advisors during their postgraduate education.