The Queen Bees and the Women's Team - A contextual examination of enmity and friendship between military women

Abstract

In several studies of women in the Norwegian Armed Forces, we have found an assertion that female groups are so riddled with conflicts and enmity that it is preferable to keep women few in number and mixed up with men, even in dormitories (Hellum 2014; Lilleaas and Ellingsen 2014; Rones 2015). Yet, when the Norwegian Special Operations Command (NORSOC) organized an all-female Special Reconnaissance Platoon, the NORSOC leadership would conclude that they had seen “almost disappointingly little of the conflicts that allegedly should occur in groups of females” (Rones and Steder 2017). Accordingly, this article will critically explore the assertion that women are often so quarrelsome that it is preferable to keep them few in number and mixed with men 24/7.It will be argued that women’s alleged tendency towards enmity is a myth that is made ‘true’ by ‘queen bee behavior’. Queen bee behavior is seen as an act of recognition, whereby women comply with existing gender stereotypes, evaluate women negatively, but set themselves apart from the category of ‘women’ as someone who fits better with men, i.e. a performance of complicit masculinity. It is further argued that queen bee behavior is a response to the social-identity threat women experience when they enter a unit in which their gender has a low reputation and status, and where it is expected that a woman should fit seamlessly in as one of the guys, and accordingly have to make a symbolic ‘change of gender’.

Psychological and Sociological Profile of Women Who Have Completed Elite Military Combat Training

“…Both in the present study and the Norwegian study other female students that were going through the training were very supportive of one another. However, like in the Rones and Steder (2018) report, peers that were not selected for elite military combat training were not supportive and the explanation postulated was that the women that were selected for elite military combat training may have been seen as a threat to their female peers that were left behind to remain at their units. One might consider if these competitive attitudes among same sex peers might be the same for men selected for elite military training.…”

“…However, it should be noted that female superiors, while rare in occurrence, were all supportive. The Norwegian military did not find this when they assembled an all-female platoon (Rones & Steder, 2018). Rather the women and their female supervisors were supportive of one another.…”

Inclusion of women into ground close combat roles: an organisational change perspective

“…This incongruity is arguably not always helpful, as the latter is more stereotypical and assumes that there is a better behavioural fit for both men and women, and therefore does not appear to reflect equality. However, a study in the Norwegian Armed Forces considered the implications of a difference in role opportunity, when women were selected for an all-woman troop compared with those selected as equals to men in a mixed unit, the latter resulting in more intergender competition and perceptions of role threat by the men 14…”

“We Don’t See Gender, Only Soldiers!” - Negotiating Military Identities in Narratives on Gender, Peace, and Security

“…It seems that despite presumed institutional intentions and a narrative, which signify diversity among personnel, a number of the practices within the Royal Danish Air Force continue to be formed by traditional military understandings in which male bodies are "soldier bodies" and female bodies become the abnormality. In this sense, the Royal Danish Air Force is neither abnormal as a military unit or progressive, but in line with a number of other Western militaries in which military identities and masculinities are linked to particular gendered bodies; that is male bodies (Enloe 2016;Rones and Steder 2018). This element is part of the complexities and paradoxes of the Danish Armed Forces and the Royal Danish Air Force particularly in terms of gender and gendered practices and the creation of social narratives in which it seems that the institutional narrative and personal narratives may result in conflicting understandings of the Royal Danish Air Force's focus on gender and gender awareness.…”

“…At the same time, they all stated that they enjoyed their work and were happy to be part of a male-dominated environment and that this fit their personalities, and they probably would be uncomfortable working in an environment, which was more feminine. The female soldiers' responses and reflections on this is a classic response to military culture in which dominating masculinities are the norm, and male gendered bodies are considered the prototype (Rones and Steder 2018;Kronsell and Svedberg 2001;Sjoberg 2015). Something, which the female soldiers do not intend to challenge through conflict or attention to their own bodies or presence in the military.…”