Work-Life06 Mar 2007 09:38 am
Women have got a long way to go baby.
Today MSNBC.com published the Work & Power survey it conducted in conjunction with Elle magazine. I got to write the lead story explaining some of the most significant results. What we found when we surveyed 60,000 men and women: men still rule the roost in the work place. OK, we knew that. But what we didn’t know was both men and women who have a preference say they’d rather work for a guy than a gal boss.
Check out the findings at MSNBC.com today.
What is going on? Are women just difficult to work for? Are we fighting old stereotypes that will never die? Do men just make better leaders?
What hope does Hillary, 
or any other women, have of becoming president of our great nation?
March 6th, 2007 at 1:21 pm
Eve! Important topic and I am glad you are covering this story. Instead of going into the debate of “the difficulties for women living in a mans world” - which is a very important subject, I want to focus on all the great women leaders out there - not necessarily active in the corporate world, but as entrepreneurs and in many other “less” valued fields. It is too bad women doesn’t want to pursue a corporate career, but I understand the choice and the unwillingness to play in a world where you are not valued for your abilities. On a positive note, research show that women are better leaders on the whole in regardless what the perception is. The sooner the corporate sector realizes the abilities of women (as a whole) the better the company will run.
March 6th, 2007 at 6:11 pm
I think the good news is that just over half (54 percent) didn’t care what sex their boss was, if I read the story correctly.
March 6th, 2007 at 6:18 pm
yes virge, that is good news. but the point that was interesting was of those that have a preference, they tend to prefer a male boss.
March 6th, 2007 at 11:34 pm
Your column invalidated the actual experiences of the people surveyed. These are people who waxed negative about female bosses not because of some “social construct” but because they had negative experiences. Your column read like a long tangent trying to devalue the people surveyed.
Also, another thing ignored was that stereotypes don’t develop out of nowhere. They develop because people experience these things. For example, as an Italian-American I don’t like to hear stereotypes about my people. Yet I am shrewd enough to realize that they are based in fact, not because of “consuructs.”
And regarding female stereotypes: When the shoe is on the other foot, and the stereotypes are about men, rarely are they called stereotypes. They are called facts.
March 7th, 2007 at 9:19 am
Just wanted to put in my two cents! I have practised law for 17 years and it is amazing to me when I get aggressive in Court I am referred to as a bitchy female. When my male collegues do the same they are seen as competent and doing a fine job representing their clients.
Go figure!
March 7th, 2007 at 10:33 am
hey vaso, that’s all about the double standard…i don’t know when that attitude will ever disappear.
hey tony, you make some good points.
i’m sure there are a lot of people who have had negative experiences with female bosses.
my issue with stereotypes is how the impact reality. if women made up 50 percent of the top executive positions in corporate america, or at least 20 percent, stereotypes wouldn’t be a problem. call women what you will, but give them a fair shake. women are obviously not getting a fair shake because there are still a small handful of women that have broken through the glass ceiling.
December 13th, 2007 at 5:56 am
I’m a bit confused. Brought up by females only with no fatherly figure, I believed men are hard and difficult to communicate with. This of course did not help me in my peer-group - I was always the odd one out and did not understand my own gender.
But when I started working - my oh my! Was I surprised to find that women can be HARD - even harder than some men. Don’t get me wrong - not all of them - but the majority of those I worked for were tough people and you did not want to get on their wrong side - believe you me!
After 13 years working, I’ve only recently started working for a male boss - what a nice surprise and change. I think the issue here is that women who are in positions of leadership and management forget that they are women and want to defend themselves and their decisions all the time - hence their “hard” demeanour. Who can blame them - they have it much harder. Hopefully things will get better in future and they will be loving and caring as they are inherently but unfortunately the business world does not seem to place these qualities in high regard.