By Kirsten Anderson | Speaker and advocate

In recent months we’ve seen many powerful men topple from their high-titled workplace pedestal due to inflated egos, sense of entitlement and poor decision-making. However, men are not the only ones making poor decisions in the workplace in this day and age. 

Too often women are to blame for terrible work situations. Forty percent of workplace bullies are women who pick on other women more than 70 percent of the time. How exhausting to devote the majority of your professional energy to bringing others down!   

If we want equity at work, gender parity, and an end to workplace bullying and harassment, we have to cut the cattiness. My first job out of college, I worked for a United States senator in his district office with a total of four employees — two women and two men. From the beginning, it was apparent the other woman in the office didn’t want me around. She had her own office, high-ranking title and was on staff for a decade. 

I was clearly no threat to her position — I sat at the front desk, answered the phone and was the senator’s chauffeur from time to time. She never extended me kindness, rarely smiled in my presence and passed off my questions to the men in the office. I really wanted to learn from her but she never wanted to talk to me. These slights, albeit small, clearly had a big impact on me. 

No one gets a promotion, better title or pay increase for being catty. Instead, cattiness brings guilt, shame and regret. Keep in mind, bullying is four times more prevalent than sexual harassment at work and takes on many forms including gossiping, playing favorites, badmouthing, purposefully ignoring, putting forth false accusations, belittling, unfair criticism (personal or professional), purposefully excluding from projects or important work, holding to different standards and taking credit for another’s work. Whether intentional or otherwise, we’ve all done it. Admit it, move forward, and make a point to not do it again. 

If we want to make our workplaces better, we need to stop the selfish behavior that silos us. Anger and jealousy at work are too emotionally expensive and simply not worth it. We need to be supportive of women at work, proactively bring them into the fold, include them in important meetings and decision-making processes. 

This also means sharing our knowledge and understanding with other women, especially those who are new to the workplace and those eager to learn. The get-out-of-my-way mentality won’t garner equal pay or equality any faster. There’s enough room for all of us at the top. Inclusivity will rule the day so let’s invite more women to step up and out with us. 

Kirsten Anderson is on a mission to end workplace harassment through education. She found
herself an unlikely advocate for those facing harassment in the workplace after she took a stand
against her former employer: the state of Iowa. On May 17, 2013, she was fired from her job as 
communications director for Iowa Senate Republicans after filing her fourth complaint about
repeated harassment and retaliatory behavior by staff and lawmakers at the Iowa Statehouse. She sued the state of Iowa and Iowa Senate Republicans for wrongful termination, harassment and retaliation, and won.

Anderson has a degree in broadcast journalism and is a 2008 Greater Des Moines LeadershipInstitute graduate. She’s president-elect of the Central Iowa chapter of the Association ofWomen in Communications and in her free time enjoys sharing the hilarious random things her8-year-old son says and attending any live music show with her husband. She can be reached atKirsten@KirstenAnderson.org.