A Special Place in Hell

“There is a special place in hell for women who don't help other women," former US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright was famously quoted as saying.

This book builds on a study conducted by the author’s research firm, which found that more than half of the female workers surveyed during the COVID 19 pandemic had experienced, or were currently experiencing, relationships/ or conditions of work which constituted workplace bullying. That workplace environments were highly strained during the crisis had been anticipated, particularly those occupations which made up the ‘care frontline’. What wasn’t foreseen was that the perpetrators of bullying behaviours were often female colleagues. Time and again the phrase ‘it’s the women’ was expressed in survey data and follow up interviews.

Building on that survey, this book takes a deeper dive into intra-gender female bullying, with the aim of gaining deep insight into the nature of bullying at work and from there, potential responses. Workplace bullying is a growing problem across the world, yet to date, there has been little real focus, even within academia, around what is driving intra-gender female bullying. The book, which draws primarily on Australian and UK case studies, will examine the different approaches to bullying that have been used and, analyse why these have failed to address this problem.

A Special Place in Hell will be of interest to students and researchers in workplace behaviour, and equality and diversity, as well as feminism and gender studies; and to thoughtful practitioners in human resources management.