Workplace Bullying Institute

The Workplace Bullying Institute
2007 U.S. Workplace Bullying Survey

3. Who Bullies Whom?

3a.) Both men and women are bullies; women are targeted more frequently.

Gender of the Bullies: (the person primarily responsible for the mistreatment) 60% are Men; 40% are Women

Gender of Targets: (the person targeted for mistreatment) (56.7) 57% are Women; (43.3) 43% are Men

When the Bully is a Woman: (71.3) 71% of the Targets are Women; (28.7) 29% of Targets are Men

When the Bully is a Man: (53.5) 53% of the Targets are Men; (46.5) 47% of Targets are Women

Note that women prefer to bully other women, 2.5 times more frequently than they target men. Men divide their cruelty showing a slight preference toward same-gender harassment.

In rank order, from most to least frequent, these are the gender pairings with respect to bullying at work.

- Male who bullies a male target, Man-on-Man, same gender, (32.1) 32%
- Female who bullies a female target, Woman-on-Woman, same gender, (28.5) 29%
- Male who bullies a female target, Man-onWoman, (27.9) 28%
- Female who bullies a male target, Woman-on-Man, (11.4) 11%

3b.) Most, 68% of bullies, operate alone, at least in the beginning.

Question: Did the harasser work alone or were there several people involved in the mistreatment?

Responses
Solo harasser, (68.4) 68%
Several harassers, (26.7) 27%
Not sure, (4.9) 5%

Slight gender differences apply. Women bullies are slightly more likely than men bullies to enlist the help of others to "gang up" on their targets (28.7% vs. 25.4%).