Female psychopaths poisoning workplaces

Over a decade ago, Sheryl Candberg had a big hit with her book, Lean In - Women, Work, and the Will to Lead. The former Meta executive enthused about the impact of female leadership, claiming women's superior relationship skills would mean that once women were in charge the result would be kinder, more collaborative workplaces. "They will create "environment where everyone shines," she said.

Oh yeh? Well, that hasn't quite worked out as planned, according to stories regularly exposed in the media. Have a look at the kinder, gentler world created by having women in charge. Women like:

• Kamala Harris: "It's an abusive environment. It's not a place where people feel supported but a place where people feel treated like shit." A series of recent media stories revealed Kamala Harris as a bully who inflicted "constant soul-destroying criticism on her office staff."

• Julie Bishop: "A pattern of threats, intimidation, and bullying." That's how a member of the university staff described the workplace behaviour of the former Australian Foreign Minister and current Chancellor of the ANU during a Senate inquiry into the university.

• Julie Payette: "Bullying and harassment at its worst." So concluded an independent review into former Canadian Governor General, who was accused of creating a "toxic" workplace through yelling, belittling, and public humiliation of staff. This led to her 2021 resignation.

• Liz Truss: "It was a toxic regime, pure bullying that drained the life out of the team." The former UK Prime Minister was accused by ex-aides of a "soul-destroying" bullying style during her 49-day premiership, including berating staff over policy failures and fostering a fear-based culture.

• Dorinda Cox: "Engaging in psychological put-downs that left employees feeling belittled and devalued." This is one of many descriptions of bullying by the Greens Senator, who has faced multiple bullying allegations from staff and colleagues since 2024.

We mustn't forget Australia's best known "Mean Girls", Senators Penny Wong and Katy Gallagher, and former Senator Kristina Keneally. The trio were referred to as the "cantankerous cabal" by the husband of the late Senator Kimberley Kitching, who died after a suspected heart attack, not long after having been ostracised and bullied by this group.

For an excellent example of these mean girls in action, see this video of sneering Wong and Gallagher attacking Senator Linda Reynolds. The decision in the recent defamation action by Reynolds absolutely supports her version of events, including the fact that she ended up in hospital due to the disgraceful attack by Wong and Gallagher who falsely claimed Reynolds failed to support alleged rape victim Brittany Higgins. Yet here they blatantly lie about what happened, oozing contempt, and condescension.

For every female-led workplace demonstrating the much-heralded harmonious, cooperative working environments, there are others where mean girls rule the roost, causing pain and disruption. The results are there for all to see. Study after study has shown relational aggression is a major cause of women leaving jobs, like this University of Nebraska-Lincoln research involving 200 plus leaders which found 62% of women cite "toxic interpersonal dynamics" as a key reason for departure. Another study by American psychologists found 70% of women report low job satisfaction due to relational aggression.

Yet evidence of powerful women poisoning their workplaces is usually kept well hidden. Our carefully controlled public narrative will never acknowledge that women's relationship skills aren't always being put to good use. It's like coercive control, which our society is desperately pretending is a uniquely male form of vice. Yet our community knows full well that women are extremely adept at using emotional abuse to control their relationships.

The best Australian example of our society keeping a lid on the mean girl effect was the Set the Standard inquiry, which followed the furore about Brittany Higgins' allegations that she was raped in Parliament House. The inquiry, looking at sexual harassment, bullying and sexual assault in the parliamentary workplace, found far more bullying than harassment or assault – 42% of women had been bullied, compared to 24% experiencing harassment and 1% actual or attempted sexual assault.

So, bullying was the major problem in this workplace. And who were the main perpetrators? Not men. The inquiry reported that women were responsible for 61% of one-off bullying incidents, and 76% of the repeat offences.

Naturally this interesting finding was totally buried. Not one of the 28 recommendations in the report targeted the high levels of bullying by women and there has been no follow-up on this issue, with most recommendations focussed on increasing gender equity and the like. The media almost uniformly ignored this toxic behaviour, apart from a few warnings mentioning the bullying result must be framed cautiously to avoid "pitting women against women".

What makes relationship aggression so damaging is that women regard workplace relationships as critical to job satisfaction. Gallup's State of the Global Workplace 2025 Report found women are more likely than men to prioritize supportive social climates and relationships: Specifically, 72% of women (vs. 58% of men) report that a "supportive social climate" (including strong colleague relationships, recognition, and belonging) is a top factor in job satisfaction and staying with an employer.

This means the behaviour of mean girl bosses is making a lot of women very miserable indeed. In fact, in female-dominated professions like nursing, the problem is so widespread that there's a running gag about nurses eating their young, dating back to a 1986 article by Judith E. Meissner which describes bullying, hazing, or horizontal violence (e.g., withholding information, gossip, intimidation) directed at new or less experienced nurses by more senior colleagues.