Does the Gender of ur boss matter?

[-Lily-]

I think female bosses by nature have to ‘prove’ they’re as tough as their male counterparts hence the reason they might be more inclined to be less friendly and have a more cold/professional outlook. There are more male bosses simply because women take time out of work to raise children and will not be promoted as soon as men.

 

My last boss was female, she was cool and had a fabulous dress sense, and we always ended up talking about clothes when not working. Before that I always had males, I don’t mind them.

 

What kind of ‘female’ issues could you possibly discuss with your boss? I thought work was work and that’s that?

[Blessed]

^Women are more understanding about some of the issues you go through as a woman.

 

In my field, I think it necessary to have a lady as a boss as they bring a certain amount of warmth and tlc to the environment.

 

I've always been blessed to have had some really lovely ladies in my professional life. The types of women that want to build you up and support you in doing the best in your job. I absolutely admire my current boss (owner) and still keep in touch with my last- who was more of a big sister to me.

 

I think this has a lot to do with the field you work in. It is said that Youth Work and Teaching tends to attract people with heart. *beeb, beeb*

 

Can’t say that about the retail morons, I’ve had to endure in my college days. :mad:

[Pujah]

I tuned in to similar radio show en route to work yesterday morning as well. The funny thing was, almost all the women that called in live claimed woman bosses tend to be b!tchy, and they would rather work for a man. Only few men called stating their preference for men bosses but none of the male callers stoop to name calling. Listening to that show just for half an hour and you can come away thinking women are just haters whether they are the boss or the employee.

 

Generalizing is not my thing so let me stop there. Personally I couldn’t care less one way or the other. I have had mostly male bosses before but my current manager is great and I am proud to say she is fellow female.

 

Ps. Its possible that the radio show was only accepting callers who had something negative to say about female bosses. As a regular listener I wouldn’t put it past them.

[Che -Guevara]

LooooooooooL@Puuja.

 

 

I had female boss, very talented and dependable, but so hostile to my female co-workers yet so sweet and nice to the male counterparts. I personally would prefer female since they seem to favor men.

[Pujah]

^^LOL Che what you do to deserve that horta

 

 

===========================================

 

Men rule — at least in workplace attitudes

Even women seem skeptical of female bosses in Elle/MSNBC.com survey

 

By Eve Tahmincioglu

MSNBC contributor

Updated: 6:11 p.m. CT March 6, 2007

 

 

Hillary Clinton might want to sit up and pay attention to results of our exclusive survey on attitudes in the workplace.

 

While Clinton hopes to smash through the ultimate glass ceiling to become the nation's first female president, the Work & Power Survey conducted by Elle and MSNBC.com suggests that stereotypes about sex and leadership are alive and well.

 

While more than half our 60,000 respondents said a person's sex makes no difference to leadership abilities, most who expressed a preference said men are more likely to be effective leaders.

 

Of male respondents, 41 percent said men are more likely to be good leaders, and 33 percent of women agreed. And three out of four women who expressed a preference said they would rather work for a man than a woman.

 

The survey, conducted early this year, found a bonanza of stereotypes among those polled, with many using the optional comment section to label women "moody," "*****y," "gossipy" and "emotional." The most popular term for woman, used 347 times, was "catty."

 

There are still few women in the corner office today, and the numbers appear to be declining. Our survey sheds light on one obstacle blocking women from the boardroom: negative attitudes about women leaders — attitudes women themselves still harbor.

 

“One cannot live in a sexist society without absorbing some of those messages, which make women feel worse about themselves and suspicious of other women," said Janet Lever, a professor of sociology at California State University in Los Angeles, who helped conceive the survey. "The enemy is omnipresent cultural messages, not women themselves."

 

There are long-established attributes that are assigned to men and women, says Madeline E. Heilman, an expert on workplace sex bias and professor of psychology at New York University. Women take care of others and nurture, while men are seen as taking charge and being assertive. The problem is, she says, when we map these attributes onto the workplace the male attributes are much more sought after.

 

“I call this the lack of fit,” she explains, because the perceived attributes of women don’t fit the leadership mold. “When women succeed in areas they’re not supposed to they are disapproved of greatly, by everyone, men and women.”

 

Indeed, our survey found that about 33 percent of men and women would rather work for a man, while about 13 percent would prefer working for a woman. (The remaining 54 percent had no preference.)

 

And when asked who would be more likely to lead effectively, males were preferred by more than a 2-1 margin by both men and women — even though women got high marks for being problem solvers and providing more supportive work environments.

 

Will men and women ever see beyond these ingrained beliefs and accept women as conductors on the career express? It’s all about preconceived notions of the leader image, says Claire Babrowski, the former CEO of RadioShack. When people close their eyes and visualize the top dogs sitting around the corporate table, she explains, “We picture men in leadership roles. As a woman you already have this hurdle to overcome.”

 

Julie Fasone Holder, a corporate vice president for Dow Chemical, remembers a hallway conversation in the 1980s after she and another woman were promoted. A male executive said to Fasone, “I guess it’s women’s promotion week.” The way he said it, she says, “was I was being promoted because I was a women, not a great leader.”

 

And even though Fasone says things have gotten better for women, she adds: “Women still face stereotypes. We’ve come a ways, but I wouldn’t say we’ve arrived.”

 

MSNBC.COM

[Caano Geel]

lets face it, its socially imposed bull.

Women are constantly barraged with images and messages of 'you have to be this not that, now that not this, but def. not that and this went out last weeks and this only until we change our mind also maybe that'

 

in all honesty i'm shocked that women today are not schizophrenic.

[Che -Guevara]

^^LOL Che what you do to deserve that horta

Come to work in tight khaki pants!

[Cara.]

Puuja, it's possible. Also keep in mind that callers tend to be people who have very strong (and usually negative) opinions. If you sort of like your boss, or don't mind him/her, you're not likely to call in.

 

If someone dislikes their MALE boss, they're unlikely to attribute it to his gender. But if someone has problems with their FEMALE boss, it's her gender that gets highlighted. Go figure.

[-Lily-]

lol@Schiziophrenic

 

Only women who bother to listen that is...

[-Serenity-]

I've always had male bosses, and quite frankly it suited me well. While its nice to have a woman who understands all that you go through as a woman, its even better to have a man who hasn’t a clue and you mostly don’t even have to bother offering anything in the form of an explanation. In my case, a smile or a nod when enquired why I had to leave early or got in late always sufficed.

[Shakti]

i couldn’t careless who is rocking the chair just as long as they don’t make mistake in paycheck

[Legend of Zu]

^^^ Laayarad...admit it - you would love a hot boss!

 

Cheers

[Ariadne]

I have had male and female bosses and I don't really care abouit gender. My preference for bosses is whether they single or in a realationship or married. I find older single women as bosses is like being at war, strangely enough the same phenomenon happens with older single men.

With married people or people in realationships the dynamics aren't as fragile as land mines.

[Didi Kong]

Female bosses tend to display participative leadership styles more than their male counterparts. I had a female boss once and I remember thinking of her as more of a collegue than a boss. Depends on one's profession really. Most female bosses can be quite frustrating to have when it comes to spelling out expectations and duties clearly and concisely to their subordinates. One often times ends up losing focus of the bottom line.

[Khayr]

Male boss all the wayyyyy!

 

They just don't critique you on every dot that you are to put on an "I" and you can actually....reason with them (disclaimer: personal opinion)