Culture & Workplace

Male or Female: Who Do Employees Want for a Boss?

By Josh EllisPublished December 4, 20141 min read
Male or Female: Who Do Employees Want for a Boss?
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A Gallup poll suggests that both genders are still more likely to prefer male bosses, but the gap is narrowing.

In the 2013 survey, 35 percent of respondents said they would prefer to have a man as a boss, compared to 23 percent who would prefer a woman. The good news is that 41 percent claimed no preference, whereas in 2000, almost 50 percent of people said they wanted a male boss, and just about 30 percent saw no difference.

Gallup began tracking gender preference for management in 1953, when 66 percent of respondents said they favored a male boss compared to only 5 percent who wanted to work for a woman.

Among the Fortune 500 in 2014, only 25 companies have female CEOs, according to the women’s progress nonprofit Catalyst.

Check out our 4 tips to be a better manager.

Josh Ellis

Josh Ellis

Josh Ellis is the former editor in chief for SUCCESS magazine. Before joining SUCCESS in 2012, he was an accomplished digital and print sportswriter, working for the Dallas Cowboys Star magazine, the team’s gameday program, and DallasCowboys.com. Originally from Longview, Texas, he began writing for his hometown newspaper at 16.

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