to think that women are generally worse to work for than men?

[choufleur]

Obviously not me - i'm a great manager but all of the very senior female managers i have to work with (i'm in the middle) seem to think the only way to manage is to undermine people and force their views and ways of working on staff who are further down the pecking order than them. Men i work for don't seem to do it anywhere near as much.

[TheBolter]

My current boss is lovely, amazing, kind... and a man!

My previous boss was also a man, but completely inept.

My boss before that, a woman, who had had to climb the greasy pole through ad agencies in the Thatcher era. Nuff said. . I got on OK with her, in fact she LOVED me, but I was (secretly) terrified of her. While she was really quite inspirational she also had a totally irrational, prima-donna like attitude that spat people out when they'd outlived their usefulness.

My boss before that was a man who was a complete wanker of the highest order. I would still like to smack him round the back of his smug bonce with a serious piece of Le Creuset Ironware.

When I did temping work as a student I worked for a complete bitch who told me to go home after a week because I was basically useless. In front of everyone and in the most horrible way. Had me in tears. But I think it was because her long-term dp (not her choice apparently ) fancied me. He worked in the same office and was always very nice to me.

I think a lot of women are fine to work for until they feel threatened.

I think I'm a really nice boss myself ... my colleagues may think otherwise though!

[cthea]

I think we all have experiences of working for both male and female bosses and can talk about that. I think fewer people have experience of working for white and black bosses, gay and straight, protestant and catholic. I don't see why we should be so terrified of sharing experiences and keep PC about it all. People are making some generalisations here but nobody is using abusive language. And as far as I can see there are both good and bad experiences of either sex. It's just a chat, you know.

[motherinferior]

I have had precisely one good boss in my rather long working life. She is a MNer

[UnquietDad]

Gosh, aren't there a lot of generalisations on here? Good job it's not a bunch of nasty horrible MEN saying these things about their female bosses, because that might be a bit sexist.

[JemL]

In my experience, the only good thing about male bosses is that they are generally so inept and disorganised, that a. they make you look great and b. they are not so on top of things like deadlines, chasing stuff up, etc, and you can, if you wish, get away with more. They are more likely to agree to whatever proposal you put to them (holiday arrangements, flexi time, etc) because they can't be arsed to get into working out the practicalities of any proposed arrangements and find it easier just to say yes.

This is just in my experience, of course!!

[MoonchildNo6]

Agree with Dittany, I think people just accecpt male bosses good or bad but if a female boss is bad it's a big issue. I also think there can be a certain amount of jealousy from other women sometimes when a woman is in charge and a feeling of insecurity from men.

[GetOrfMoiLand]

I work in a very male dominated industry and up to now all my bosses have been male. And tbh up until 3 months I dreaded the thought of having a female boss, I have always worked very well with blokes and it is what I have been used to.

My boss in my new job the past 3 months is a woman, and it has been brilliant. She is supportive, intelligent and (importantly) very well respected amongst her peers. She also is far less interested in micro-managing and faff than my previous male bosses.

[halfbakedcookie]

I have worked for some nasty women in my time.

One of the worst was a very insecure woman who would only hire other women larger or far less attractive than herself, regardless if they were the best person for the job.

[anothernamechangeyawn]

I think the general rule is that members of a particular group (ie women) are perfectly entitled to discuss their good and bad points. There are many bad points to woman bosses. I agree with the "driven" comment. The nightmare bosses I had were all total workaholics who couldn't accept or understand that other people actually have a life and didn't want to do 2 hours of unpaid overtime every single day.

There is nothing more annoying than a boss who's there before you in the morning, stays longer in the evening, and audibly tuts as you dare to leave to go home to your child. Men generally have more perspective.

[hambler]

YABU
Would you start a thread saying black bosses are worse to work for than white?
Gays than straights?
Old than young?
Protestant than catholic?

[anothernamechangeyawn]

I have had four female managers and three of them have been absolutely terrible to work for. Petty, moody, controlling and insecure. The last one, however, was fantastic, I think because she was very self assured and confident in her position.

IME insecure male managers are just a bit crap. Insecure women seek to control and undermine others to make themselves feel better.

[HuwEdwards]

My current manager is 10 years younger than me and female.

She is one of the best managers I've ever had.

[kathyis6incheshigh]

No, good and bad of both sexes.
And I think there is something in what Dittany says about some people having problems with women in authority.

[UnquietDad]

Not my experience. Always had female managers and found them fine.

[ShellingPeas]

My best boss was a woman - she commanded great respect from people by being fair, generous and even handed. People would work very, very hard for her. She was the mother of 2 young girls and worked 4 days in the office and 1 day from home - she was prepared to give people flexibility in their own working hours too which was great.

The worst boss I had was a man who spent his time bullying everyone - he bordered on psychopathic and everyone was scared of him. You spent the minimum amount of time you could at work. When he was replaced the workplace atmosphere lightened beyond belief.

[ZephirineDrouhin]

Yes me too actually re the worst bosses

[TheCrackFox]

I was made redundant whilst on maternity leave - by my female boss. . Before I announced my pregnancy she was talking about promoting me.

Some people are just not cut out to be bosses. Nothing to do with gender.

[ZephirineDrouhin]

Yes YABU of course. But while we're making huge generalisations based on limited experience I feel compelled to say that by far the best two bosses I have ever had were both gay women. No idea why this should be - entirely coincidental I expect.

Think DebiNewberry has probably hit the nail on the head.

[mrsboogie]

hmmm.. my male boss has apparently dismissed all the very hard (and way above my grade)work I did last year because I went on maternity leave, with the following all encompassing phrase on my appraisal "you did your best in the circumstances" AND yesterday told me after I had taken on a massive project "it's ironic that you take this on now when you haven't the time" I asked what he meant and he said " well you have other commitments now" (meaning a baby) I said but I work full time and having a baby has not impacted n my work HAS IT'?? and he said "oh I know, yeah" and wandered off.

he would NEVER say this to his male staff who have kids

[DebiNewberry]

YABU but I think you know it.

YANBU to be fed up with your managers atm.

My director has a terrible rep, I was dreading working for her, but in reality has been the best manager I have ever worked for. I can only presume that her bad rep is because women are penalised for behaviour that nobody blinks at in a man, generally.

[ABetaDad]

I have had a great female boss and a great male boss.

My DW though does tend to agree with Portofino on this point:

"Mostly it seems like they needed to "prove" themselves all the time (which is quite sad really) leading to much pettiness."

DW says that some women basically do all they can to put other women down around them and especially women who take time off for childcare and pregnancy and basically suck up to the men above them and pander to their male predjudices about women. She says that some women are actually more sexist than many men about other women. The more high powered and more male dominated the profession the worse the female bosses are to other women.

[choufleur]

agree there are some good women managers about (despite what i said originally) but at the moment the three directors i work to just seem to want the earth, ask for conflicting work, and pay no heed to anything else me and my team may have on. On the other hand the two male directors i work to are far more chilled and actually understand that i may have other things that need doing and listen to my opinion on subjects that i know about and tbh they don't really as they are not expected to be experts at my job - that's what i'm paid for.

[MrsChemist]

My last two bosses have been women and they seem a lot more driven than the male bosses I've had. It's as if they have to prove themselves to everyone. They were both landladies and I suppose that makes a difference, because it is a very male dominated profession.
However, I found that this attitude made them exactly the kind of managers you would want. You want the business you work for to succeed, so you want the managers to be the best they can be and to put 100% effort into everything they do.