All female workplace.

[Miffer]

Every job I have had has been in an office, in total I have worked in 4 offices. My latest job started 12 months ago and although every office I have worked in has been female dominated this is the first one that has been exclusively female. It's the nicest place I have ever worked.

I have identified a few things that stick out as different but before I put them forward I thought I would ask others what their experiences are. After all I may have just had particularly bad luck with my other jobs. Has anybody else worked in an all female environment after being in a mixed one? What has your experience been?

[AlexandraEiffel]

Yes I did. Was lovely. Collaborative, supportive. We all helped each other, supported each other. No ego, no competition. Lots of mothers too, no presenteeism. I wasn't a mother then and there was no animosity. Flexi/part time working was just normal. Lovely

[LordPeterWimsey]

No, sadly. I went from a 50-50 environment to one where I'm often the only woman in the room. But I'm about to move and I'm going to lead an all-female team! Really looking forward to it.

[MrNoseybonk]

Sadly my experience of an all female office was awful, entirely down to the most senior manager, who fostered a culture of blame, talking behind people's backs, turning people against each other, stony silence in the office all day.
She absoultely didn't support mothers either, as she didn't have children herself, hated them, and mistrusted the younger women who could potentially leave to have children.

[tribpot]

My experience of a mostly female office is like MrNoseybonk's, but I have literally worked in one female-majority office in more than 20 years at work. Then I moved into IT and have spent the rest of my time being mistaken for the only other woman in any given office or team so I don't think my experiences are representative.

[MrsFionaCharming]

I've worked in a few all-female environments (for girls / womens charities) and loved them all. They've all felt so supportive and caring, particularly important as they were live-in positions.

I'm in a mixed team now and enjoy it too, but it just doesn't 'feel' the same.

[Mymouthgetsmeintrouble]

I have found all female work environments to be very bitchy , lots of slagging off , scrutinising others , passing the blame but i also worked in an office where i was the only woman and found the men to be patronising even though i was better at my job than they were , they also regularly requested i make tea until i told them to f off , in a nutshell women slag you off behind your back and men slag you off to your face i much prefer it mixed

[PerspicaciaTick]

My DMum was a teacher in an all female environment that was hugely toxic. I worked in a very male-dominated environment which was very supportive and pleasant. I am now working in a female -dominated environment which is pleasant but people are very blunt and not slow to complain (which has been a culture shock). It is a bit like being back in school/uni for me (which was the last time I worked with women) so I think it is just me getting used to different ways of doing things rather than one being better than the other.

[paxillin]

My only ever all-female workplace was spectacularly hostile to mothers. It was extremely hierarchical and micromanagement was rife. It was like a caricature of male bully boy culture minus the sexual harassment. Depressing.

[LonnyVonnyWilsonFrickett]

I have and I adored it but I'm careful not to attribute it to everyone being female. I just think everyone was ace in that particular team. It was my best ever job.

[JacquettaWoodville]

Never worked in such a place. Often the only woman in the room. Sigh.

[JigglypuffsCaptor]

I've worked in a female only environment it was bloody awful! Full of bitching, slagging people off, jealousy and resentment, I quit after 4 months and I had secured a job back in a mixed sex environment!

It honestly goes down as the worst place I've ever worked! Never again.

[JacquettaWoodville]

I bet lots of men work in men only environments and don't even register it as A Thing.

[UmbongoUnchained]

I have and I hated it. Now work with all men and I love it. But I've always been more comfortable around men. Women intimidate me.

[Wellywife]

I've worked in many all female or mainly female environments (and managed an all female team) and loved them all! Supportive and collaborative. My only miserable times at work have been in all male environments. All very competitive to the extent of sabotaging one another. But to be fair that was a sales role.

A bit apprehensive because in about to start a new job in an all male office. ...

[Xenophile]

Ive worked in both female and male dominated offices and industries. By far the happier places were all female. I have found though that people who have been back stabbing and bitchy have found others to behave like that with, it generally only take a couple of bad eggs to ruin an entire office environment, but also it just takes people who aren't prepared to play to change it. In all male offices there tends to be little you can do about dick swingers.

[scallopsrgreat]

I work in a male dominated office which until recently which was "Full of bitching, slagging people off, jealousy and resentment". Of course it wasn't named as that.

It has changed quite a lot mainly due to a female CEO changing the culture to a more collaborative environment, introducing female senior members of staff, introducing a more customer/business-based focus. So although I've only ever worked in a male dominated environment, I've had pretty positive experiences of women in that environment. And most of my female colleagues are fab!

[NotCitrus]

The female-dominated places I'd worked in until 5 years ago were unpleasant as they had too many women who could only talk about diets and clothes and their crap men, so as someone who didn't do diets, care about fashion, and had a good relationship, I was isolated. Luckily the more recent got some new senior women and a couple junior men in and all were lovely. More recently have been in mostly-female role and it went pretty well.

Though most men I've worked with have been OK or at least equal-opportunities bastards. I did have an interview for a 99.5% male industry which went "the job's yours, but I warn you we talk a lot about football here". And they really did, even by bloke standards! Luckily they responded well to me taking the piss a bit and were lovely when talking about anything else.

I think some women start talking about diets as a way to bond, just like some men do with football, but it too easily becomes judgemental (and fucking tedious!)

[BarbarianMum]

I've only once worked in an all female workplace (a pre-school). It was hell - constant bitching and rumour-mongering and low level passive aggression. I think that it was less because it was all female though and more because most of the staff had been there forever and had ammassed a lifetime of grudges with each other. Most were hanging on to pension age, felt under-valued (childcare is) and trapped. Not a great working atmosphere although they were all really good with the kids.

Current office is female dominated (2/3 women to 1/3 men, including a female CEO) and is lovely and supportive, with very progressive employment practices and a very positive ethos.

[Marmighty]

Worked in a place with majority women - made me realise some people are wonderful colleagues and some people are arseholes, regardless of gender. But it did mean I was exposed to some very inspirational senior women, and my professional confidence has increased as a result. Also, people tended to dress more flamboyantly than the usual office wear, due to more open admiration for lovely clothes and shoes, even in quite serious meetings ;) (they're stereotypes for a reason...?)

[MyCatIsSparticus]

The only female team I've ever been in was at a call centre where about 11 of us all started at the same time. It was fabulous. Everyone was so relaxed with each other

[OlennasWimple]

I've just had a bad experience in an all women office. I am very happy to say that it was not necessarily due to this fact, but (in contrast to the male dominated offices I have been used to) there was a real lack or urgency to deliver and there were so many people working flexible patterns that there was seldom everyone in the office at the same time (and some women worked from home on days when their pre-schoolers were home with them).

[grimbletart]

My work experience has spanned nearly 50 years (I'm retired now). I've worked in places where I was the sole woman, a mixed environment, a male dominated environment, a female dominated environment and an all female environment.

That experience has taught me that it much more to do with the personality of the people involved and very little to do with whether it is a male/female/mixed environment. Decent people are decent people. Bastards are bastards.

[HerBigChance]

Sadly my experience of an all female office was awful, entirely down to the most senior manager, who fostered a culture of blame, talking behind people's backs, turning people against each other, stony silence in the office all day.

That was my experience too, coupled with a sense that some of the women really hadn't moved on from being Top Dog at secondary school, even though they were in their thirties.

I wouldn't want to work in an all-male environment either, though. I much prefer mixed office environments.