Invisible bruises: Workplace bullying is hurting midlife women

Workplace bullying is not simply a bad day at work. [Courtesy]

When news broke that a Nairobi woman had died by suicide after allegedly enduring workplace bullying, many people focused on the tragedy itself. Fewer asked what happened in the months before her death. Perhaps she stopped sleeping, dreaded Mondays, rehearsed conversations in her head before every meeting. Perhaps she questioned her competence despite years of experience. She carried the stress home, where her family may have seen the tears but didn’t understand the cause.

We don’t know every detail of her experience. Investigations and public discussions continue. What we do know is that her death has sparked an uncomfortable conversation about toxic workplace cultures, intimidation and the crushing weight many employees carry in silence.

For many midlife women, workplace bullying leaves no visible scars. Yet the damage often follows them long after they leave the office.

Workplace bullying should be treated as a serious occupational health issue because its impact on midlife women extends far beyond the office and into their physical health, mental wellbeing, and financial security. When organisations dismiss bullying as personality conflict, management style or workplace pressure, they ignore harm that affects employees, families and business performance alike.

Workplace bullying is not simply a bad day at work. Researchers define it as repeated, health-harming mistreatment that includes humiliation, intimidation, verbal abuse, social exclusion, excessive monitoring, or deliberate attempts to undermine someone’s professional standing.

Midlife women often occupy a particularly vulnerable position. Many are senior enough to threaten insecure managers yet still face gendered expectations around behaviour, communication, and leadership. At the same time, they are maybe navigating midlife transitions, caregiving responsibilities, aging parents and school children. The result is a collision of pressures.

A major study published in the journal of BioMed Research International in 2025 found strong links between workplace bullying and depression, anxiety, sleep disorders, psychological distress, and reduced quality of life. Victims reported significantly poorer physical and mental health outcomes than their peers.

The story emerging from Nairobi is troubling precisely because it sounds familiar. Across industries, women describe similar experiences. They are publicly embarrassed during meetings, their ideas are dismissed and later repeated by someone else. They are excluded from critical discussions. Their performance scrutinised more intensely than others and sometimes receive unrealistic deadlines and contradictory instructions. Each incident appears small in isolation. Over time, the effect becomes profound.

A bruise heals because the body recognises an injury and begins treatment. Workplace bullying often persists because organisations fail to recognise the injury at all. Many women internalise the abuse rather than challenge it. They assume they are overreacting. They doubt their own judgment. They work harder in an attempt to regain approval from the very people causing the harm.

Research published by the Workplace Bullying Institute in 2024 found that women are more frequently targeted by workplace bullying and often experience greater career disruption as a result. The consequences include anxiety, burnout, reduced earning, absenteeism, and premature exit from the workplace. The financial cost is substantial.

Women in their forties and fifties are often at their peak earning years. They are building retirement savings, paying school fees, supporting relatives and preparing for long-term financial security. When bullying forces them to resign, accept demotion, or leave an industry altogether, the economic consequences follow them for decades. The health consequences are equally serious.

Mayo Clinic research on women in midlife found that stress-related health challenges already affect workplace performance and wellbeing. Chronic stress is associated with elevated risks of cardiovascular diseases, sleep disturbance, depression and cognitive difficulties. These risks become harder to manage when employees are trapped in hostile work environments.

Employers often underestimate this cost. They calculate turnover. They measure absenteeism and track performance. What they rarely measure is the impact of fear.

Fear changes behavior. Employees stop speaking up. Innovation declines. Mistakes go unreported. Talented people leave. Those who remain become disengaged. A workplace culture built on intimidation eventually damages the organization itself.

Some argue that workplace bullying is an inevitable part of professional life. They point out that demanding bosses, performance pressure, and difficult colleagues exist in every organization. This argument misses an important distinction. High standards are not bullying. Constructive feedback is not bullying. Accountability is not bullying.

Bullying occurs when power is repeatedly used to humiliate, isolate, intimidate or undermine another person. One improves performance. The other damages health. Organizations that confuse the two create environments where abuse becomes normalized and complaints are dismissed as weakness.

The Nairobi woman’s death should force us to confront a question many workplaces avoid. How many employees are suffering quietly behind polished performance reviews, promotion announcements and smiling team photographs? Mental health conversations often focus on resilience, coping mechanisms and self-care. Those tools matter. They are however not enough. A person cannot meditate their way out of a toxic workplace. A wellness program cannot compensate for a culture of intimidation.

The change we need is clear. Kenyan employers should be required to adopt formal anti-bullying policies, independent reporting channels and regular psychological safety assessments. Workplace bullying should be treated with the same seriousness as any other occupational health risks. Invisible bruises are still injuries.

When a workplace repeatedly harms someone’s mental health, physical wellbeing and financial future, the damage is real whether anyone sees it or not.

The tragedy that has captured public attention should not become another news cycle. It should be a turning point.

- Norma Maranga is a Certified Wellness Coach and, a specialist in Midlife Women Wellness.