Do You Prefer Male Bosses To Female Bosses?

 

Do you have a preference for male bosses over female bosses?

If you don’t, then you are just like me, but if you do, then you are like the millions of people around the world who have made the male boss vs female boss issue a hot topic around the world.

Why is this issue such a hot topic?

Well, in recent times, it is typical to find many women in Management positions in various organizations. But it seems that these women face a very big obstacle that their male colleagues do not face: Many of their subordinates do not want them there.

In a 2016 Gallup Survey conducted in the U.S, the results showed that 33{54d2fcdcd494adb6982253be6fe8d5492e5f586157f419110131714f9092ec60} of people preferred male bosses, 20{54d2fcdcd494adb6982253be6fe8d5492e5f586157f419110131714f9092ec60} of people preferred female bosses and 46{54d2fcdcd494adb6982253be6fe8d5492e5f586157f419110131714f9092ec60} of people did not have any preference. This shows that among the people who have a preference, over 50{54d2fcdcd494adb6982253be6fe8d5492e5f586157f419110131714f9092ec60} will choose a male boss over a female boss.

One would expect that majority of the people who prefer male bosses will be male. After all, we have all heard the stories of men who do not like being ordered around by women. We would also expect that those female bosses will be female, because in this generation of ‘Feminism’ and ‘Female Empowerment’ women are supposed to support each other, right?

But it seems that this may not be so.

A survey conducted by Gallup in 2014 collected the responses from 1,032 adults living in the U.S. The results showed that women were more likely than men to want a male boss: 39 percent of women wanted to be led by a man, compared with 26 percent of men. In the 60 years that Gallup has conducted this survey, women have never preferred a female boss.

And the statistics keep on coming. According to Bloomberg, a growing pile of evidence suggests that women mistrust, and can undermine, one another at work. In a 2010 survey of 142 legal secretaries, not one preferred to work for a woman partner (about 47 percent had no preference).

Also, a 2011 survey by the Wall Street Journal found that 95 percent of working women felt they were undercut by another woman at least once during their professional life. In a 2008 study, women working for female supervisors experienced more stress than those who had male supervisors.

In Nigeria, I cannot count the number of times I have heard women complain about their female bosses. They say that their female bosses are hormonal, temperamental, prone to jealousy, and they get caught up in office politics. These same women then go on to say that they prefer male bosses because men are straight talking, leave their private life at home, feel less threatened, hardly hold grudges and have less mood swings.

I personally cannot identify with the opinions of these women. In my short career, I have had more female bosses than male bosses, and all my experiences have been nothing like these women report. But then again, I cannot invalidate their experiences because it seems like many women go through this experience.

So, I will like to hear from you: What has your experience been like working for female bosses?

Do you prefer a Male boss to a Female boss?

What are the reasons for your choice?

Let us know in the comments section below.