Why Women Don't Always Support Other Women (Forbes)

By Dr. Shawn Andrews

As a speaker, author, consultant and professor, my expertise centers on the broad topics of leadership, gender, emotional intelligence, hidden bias and diversity and inclusion. There are many related sub-topics I discuss through presentations, workshops and business school courses, but the most common question, by far, that I receive from audiences is "Why don't women support other women?" So, I thought I'd write an article about it.

As is the case with many gender-related topics, there is no one simple answer that can explain the issue. When it comes to this question, there are several reasons why women may not support other women. First, there's an invisible natural law in the female "culture" that helps to shape how women interact with other women at work and in their personal lives. It's called the "power dead-even rule," a term coined by Pat Heim and colleagues in Hardball for Women: Winning at the Game of Business.