The Inferences of Gender in Workplace Bullying: a Conceptual Analysis

Abstract

Women are often regarded as the ‘weaker’ sex. This negative cliché has portrayed women as vulnerable and defenceless, privy to abuse and  victimisation. The purpose of this paper is to explore the inferences of gender in workplace bullying. The study unpacks types, consequences and  implications of bullying amongst women. The paper is a meta-analysis, which relied on secondary sources of information. It is a qualitative study that is  based on conceptual analysis. Findings of the paper indicate that there are gender differences in reported prevalence rates and forms of bullying. The  practical implications of the study is that bullying is a concern and the gendered nature of this form of abuse has implications for the way managers,  organisational representatives and policy-makers should address and prevent workplace bullying. The value this paper offers is the assertion that  managers, organisational representatives and policy-makers should view workplace bullying as a serious offence. The authors encourage researchers in  the field of bullying to pursue further research in area of retaliation as a consequence of bullying and to integrate their findings more firmly in existing  research. The South African workplace has overlooked the role of retaliation in encouraging bullying in the workplace. This gap in the research should be  investigated.