Women prefer working for male bosses

[DamsonInDistressss]

It seems a common argument that the lack of women in senior management positions is a result of the patriarchy. However, I was surprised to read in a recent thread on here that the majority of women prefer female bosses and are more likely to collaborate with a man than with another woman. I can't find that thread so am reposting here.

If true, this is surely a prime example of us women shooting ourselves in the foot and must be a serious contributor to male dominance.

[EightNine]

Not here. I work for a female owned and managed company. Only one man on the senior management team. Best job I've ever had

[DamsonInDistressss]

Women dislike having a female boss at work even more than men do, a new study has revealed.

Nearly 40 per cent of female workers in America would rather be led by a man, a Gallup survey found.

In contrast, just 26 per cent of men would prefer a male boss.

www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2797279/women-dislike-having-female-boss-workplace-men-study-finds.html

CBS Local — A survey by MSN found that both men and women prefer to work with men rather than women in the workplace. The survey is believed to be as accurate as a scientific poll. Nearly 500,000 people supplied answers.

MSN found that 20 percent of men and 21 percent of women preferred to work with men, compared to just 6 percent of each men and women preferring to work with women.

minnesota.cbslocal.com/2017/08/04/men-women-work-study/amp/

A study found two women are less likely to cooperate than two men when one is more powerful than the other.

Similarly, two females of different rank are less likely to work together than a man and a woman.

The finding contradicts the widely held belief that women’s nurturing nature makes it natural for them to help each other out, while men are too competitive to have time for each other.

Harvard University researcher Joyce Benenson, one of the study’s authors, said that women’s instinctive distrust of females in power may make it more difficult for them to scale the career ladder.

www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2572235/Women-HATE-office-Females-operate-better-male-bosses-study-finds.html

[DamsonInDistressss]

Sounds a bit like my workplace EightNine, but it's an interesting topic certainly.

[RJnomore1]

Anecdotal but I love my female boss. She's amazing. I've also only had one boss I detested and she was a woman.

Based on my sample of one it depends on the manager not the gender.

[Adviceplease360]

That seems to be the consensus at my work place as well, some of the female managers are perceived as hard work/bitchy/stroppy whereas men don't have such labels attached

[AlternativeTentacle]

i have a great female boss thanks. incidentally i cant take any research seriously until i see who wrote it, who funded it and who the participants are.

[DamsonInDistressss]

Thankfully, most people seem to not have a preference. But it's interesting that in both studies more women than men preferred male bosses. I'm quite shocked!

[Ttbb]

It's not uncommon for women to be hyper competitive within the work place against other women and to do their best to prevent other women from climbing the ladder in case they become a threat (probably a result of positive discrimination and tokenism). Then there is good old fashioned botchiness. Women are horrible to one another in a way that they would never be to a man.

[NamasteNiki]

Ive been bullied at work 3 times in different jobs.

Every time it has been a woman doing the bullying .

Id take a male boss over a female for that reason alone.

[DailyMailDontStealMyThread]

Really depends on the manager and the respect they earn from the team - gender isn't a factor for me. My favourite until a year ago was female and now it's a male but I value their managerial skills much more than their gender.

[DamsonInDistressss]

I'm an admin asst at a large solicitors, Niki, and sadly it's the female associates that are by far the worst to work for in my experience.

[Sparky888]

Like many things, I don’t think it’s so easy to split by gender. It’s about people. Good and bad: people and bosses. I’ve had lots of bad male bosses. I’ve had many fewer female bosses. In a smaller pool, one bad female boss is likely to skew the picture.

Also I think women emulating their own male boss is common, just as a result of a lack of female role models. And the same traits, when copied by a woman, are sometimes viewed more negatively.

[NamasteNiki]

Damson I am a solicitor!

Bullied by female partners. Says it all that it is a common experience.

[LassWiTheDelicateAir]

I have only had 1 female boss.

She was much harder work than the male bosses. She was incapable of not revising and altering letters or documents. People found this very dispiriting as there was usually no need for it. She did this to everyone at all levels , from trainee to senior associate and even partner. Some of the drafting could be quite routine and just required updating dates/ change of names. She would revise and change documents which were the updated versions of documents she orginally drafted and had previously approved just for the sake of making changes.

[NoLoveofMine]

I had typed out a longer response but I think "what a load of absolute nonsense" covers it.

Says it all that it is a common experience.

Well, it doesn't, does it? Countless women have suffered sexual harassment and worse from male bosses and colleagues yet I'm sure you wouldn't say that "says it all" about males at work - in fact you'd rather have them as bosses yet would judge all women for the actions of a few.

[Shenanagins]

Very interesting to see this. I currently have a female boss who is great and has the complete respect of the whole team.

However, all too often I’ve seen women being very backstabbing whereas the men tend to be much more open.

That said, I work in a very female dominated area so that probably explains my experiences.

[NoLoveofMine]

She was much harder work than the male bosses.

Aren't you in a senior position to many at work? Would you be happy if they were irked at having to work for a woman?

[MaryLennoxsScowl]

I've had good and bad bosses. The worst boss I've ever had was a bloke. If there are far fewer women in senior positions (and there are), then a few bad female bosses show up more.

[NamasteNiki]

@NoLoveofMine I meant says it all that it is a common experience in law firms.

[Bunnychopz]

I’ve had one amazing female boss. She was a genuinely caring and thoughtful person. Calmly in control with no crazy ego or lust to climb to the top

[Bunnychopz]

Funnily enough my favourite male boss holds all the same qualities

[Shenanagins]

Actually this has got me thinking about how I may be perceived at work in that I don’t tend to be very emotional but quite reserved as a boss.

Therefore could we perhaps have different expectations on female bosses to males and that impacts on our perception?

[NoLoveofMine]

I meant says it all that it is a common experience in law firms.

What does it say? It's also not. I know more about law firms than I do any other kind of workplace and, whilst I've not entered one beyond work experience, have spoken to many in the legal profession. None have such issues and in fact speak very highly of inspiring women in the profession of which there are many.

What does it say about male bosses that sexual harassment and abuse is being increasingly exposed as rife across many fields?

[FormerlyFrikadela01]

The managers I've liked best have been female. None have been good managers though. In fact I've never had a good manager which is pretty sad really.

[RavingRoo]

This is a Gallup study, and Gallup only interviewed 1k randomly sampled Americans. It’s not enough to build a definitive global view of female management.