In a profession built on compassion, ethics, and care for human life, few expect cruelty to come from within. Yet for many female physicians, the deepest wounds are not inflicted by overwhelming workloads or difficult patients—but by other women in medicine.

Female-to-female bullying, rivalry, and exclusion remain a largely unspoken reality in healthcare. When women target other women, the damage runs deep, quietly shaping careers, eroding confidence, and stalling collective progress.

A Silent but Widespread Problem

Medicine has long been a male-dominated field, and while the number of women entering medical schools has increased significantly, leadership structures and workplace cultures have not always evolved at the same pace. In this environment, competition for limited opportunities—prestigious fellowships, leadership roles, research recognition—can become intense.

Instead of solidarity, some women experience subtle hostility from female colleagues: dismissive comments during rounds, exclusion from informal networks, public undermining, or being labeled as “too sensitive,” “too ambitious,” or “not a team player.” These behaviors often fall outside formal definitions of harassment, making them harder to report—and easier to dismiss.

Why Does It Happen?

Female bullying in medicine is rarely about personality alone. It is rooted in systemic pressures.

Many senior female physicians trained in environments where toughness was equated with survival. Having endured years of marginalization themselves, some unconsciously adopt the same harsh behaviors, believing that younger women must “earn” their place through suffering, just as they did.

Scarcity also plays a role. When leadership positions feel limited, women may see each other not as allies, but as threats. Instead of challenging unequal systems, the conflict turns inward.

The Personal and Professional Cost

The consequences are profound. Female doctors who experience bullying report higher rates of burnout, anxiety, depression, and self-doubt. Some withdraw from leadership ambitions; others leave academic medicine—or the profession entirely.

The loss is not only personal but collective. When talented women are silenced or pushed out, medicine loses diverse perspectives, empathetic leadership, and innovation. Patients, too, are affected when caregivers operate in environments marked by fear rather than trust.

Why It Hurts More When It Comes From Women

For many female physicians, exclusion by women cuts deeper than criticism from men. There is an unspoken expectation of mutual understanding—of shared struggle. When that expectation is violated, the sense of betrayal can be devastating.

Instead of finding mentorship and safety, younger women may learn early to stay quiet, avoid visibility, and suppress their voices—precisely the opposite of what a healthy profession needs.

Breaking the Cycle

Ending female-to-female bullying in medicine requires more than individual goodwill; it demands cultural change.

Institutions must acknowledge that bullying does not always look overt or aggressive. Training programs should address relational aggression, power dynamics, and unconscious bias—explicitly including women as both potential victims and perpetrators.

Mentorship should be redefined not as gatekeeping, but as sponsorship: actively opening doors rather than guarding them. Senior women have the power to model leadership rooted in generosity, not fear.

Most importantly, women must be encouraged to speak openly about these experiences—without shame, without minimization, and without retaliation.

Toward a Culture of Solidarity

Progress in medicine cannot be built on competition that devours its own. True advancement happens when women recognize that another woman’s success does not diminish their own.

When women choose collaboration over rivalry, mentorship over exclusion, and courage over silence, medicine becomes not only more equitable—but more humane.

Because healing others should never require harming ourselves—or each other.