Women prefer working for male bosses

NoLove I first entered a law office as a trainee in 1982. In my experience I do not recognise much of what is said on here about how sexist and awful men in law are. On the whole most people, men and women, are pretty decent; either because they just are, or the professional consequences of not being pretty decent keep them in line.

I can think of 2 men, neither of whom I worked for, who had a justified reputation for bullying. I can think of around half a dozen or so women who had a similarly justified reputation.

Isn’t probably something to do with women’s insecurity at work? Based on several different things. Partly, they seem to have to work a bit harder to progress and might feel that their position is more tenuous, as a result.

Partly because, sadly in a lot of work environments, you have to behave in more of a typically masculine way to get on.

I should imagine a company full of feminists, who understand what it’s like to navigate life as a woman, completely appreciate childcare problems, and working with men general, would be a bit of a dream.

How the hell can you know more about law firms than any other work place and yet you've only work experience in them?

Because my dad's a QC and as I want to go into the field myself I've talked at length about it with him and colleagues of his.

My opinions are about the sexism on this thread regarding female bosses whilst male bosses are completely exempt from criticism. You still ignore all the male bosses who partake in sexist bullying.

I do prefer a male boss. I dont have a good experience of female working relationships.

If i ring a company up with an issue i do prefer to speak to a male. I dont know why i just find i get the outcome i want if you speak to the opposite sex

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?

It had nothing to do with being "irked" by her being a woman but by her being extremely difficult to work for. She went out of her way to find fault with people's work without being in the least bit constructive in her criticism. None of the male bosses I worked for compared.

And to be honest there are 3 of my female partners who trainees, male and female, don't want to work for. I can't recall hearing this said of my male partners in either my current firm or my previous firm. I can think of one male partner who gets criticised for being a bit lazy but that's about it.

How the hell can you know more about law firms than any other work place and yet you've only work experience in them?

You cant have an opinion on it unless you have worked in it and walked the talk.

My last firm was 70% women there were hardly any men.

Not just from me, my colleagues and I all have experiences of abusive female partners.

Conclusion from this thread: women are terrible bosses because of a couple of women who were terrible bosses. Men are much better bosses and numerous men perpetuating a sexist culture of harassment and abuse, preying upon women in subordinate positions of them, holding back the careers of women with exclusionary networking events in clubs which exclude women (in the legal profession for example) and all the cases there will be of men bullying subordinates at work (of which there have been countless cases even which have gone to tribunals) aren't representative of anything at all. Women are just awful.

Youre not qualified to comment then.

I note you prefer to dismiss my opinions than consider why you think what you said "says it all" about all women whereas sexual abuse and harassment being rife says nothing negative about men to you.

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.

Exactly, this thread is ridiculous seeing as it's based on one minor study in America (predictably seized upon by media desperate to perpetuate this misogyny).

whilst I've not entered one beyond work experience

Youre not qualified to comment then.

Anecdotes from others doesn't count.

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.

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.

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?

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?

Funnily enough my favourite male boss holds all the same qualities

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

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

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.

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?

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.

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.

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.

Damson I am a solicitor!

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

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.