I keep hearing horror stories from friends about working for women and I have to admit that I've never had a great woman boss. Do you have a preference?

Personally, I don't really have a preference, but then, my current and last boss have been women without children. But I am really interested to see what everyone says 'cause as the store manager, I AM the boss, and maybe I can learn a thing or two.

OMG-i've had women bosses for the last 10 years and honestly, I prefer men. why? because more often than not, women bosses are very catty and play favorites and often bully-whispering behind your back, passive agressive behavior- and not one has been sweet-okay except for one boss that I had for 6 months-in between a few jobs. I just want some emotion and caring behind me.

I have worked for the same company for 12+ years on a variety of projects. Experience has shown that I prefer to work for folks who are married and/or have kids. Regardless of their sex (or sexual orientation), they know the importance of work/life balance because they live it! They truly feel my pain, understand the challenges and support me by giving me the flexibility that I need to get the job done. I also prefer to work with diverse project teams. Aside from that, I have no preference. I have worked for great female and male executives. Unfortunately, I have also experienced the catty/petty/gossipy female supervisor and the micro-managing/overly intense male supervisor. Those two rank as the worst ever, and I would not work for or with either of them ever again!

I prefer working for someone who appreciates his or her employees, respects the importance of work/life balance, can be a mentor who pushes their people to succeed. The worse boss I've had in my 17 year career is my current boss(a man). I find that he is egotistical and will throw you under the bus if it meant points for him. I've had several great women bosses and although we can be moody and catty, I'd take a woman boss any day!

Based on my work history, I prefer male bosses. My best bosses have been male. My worst boss ever female, but I don't know if it's because she is a woman or because she was not married at that time and no kids in her 40's. I agree with Tee-N-DC that married bosses with kids have more empathy although in my experience not a guarantee that they are going to be great bosses. Also my female boss competed with me rather than mentored me and even took credit for my ideas. It drove me nuts!!!! But I now outrank her and even though I'm not her direct boss I find it satisfying. I treat her better than she ever treated me and I hope that no one will ever say they prefer a male boss because of a bad experience with me.

In general, I'd rather work for a man. My best bosses have been men, but they were also talented, competent, humane people.

Women bosses seem -- to me -- like sometimes they feel they have to prove themselves more than men (and they do, sort of, but that's another story.) So they end up coming on too authoritatively for fear they'll look weak. However, I have had women bosses who are moms who were great -- very understanding of a mom's need to be flexible, but then again I've had male bosess -- who are dads -- who were equally understanding.

The worst is women bosses who have no children. You get the worst of both worlds there. They don't get the demands on working mom, they resent any flexibility you ask for, and they seem more competitive.

i agree with the others! in my work history really only one boss (so far) has been outstanding and male. The few female bosses i have had have been a bit um... let's just say i would never work for them again. However, i like to keep an open mind and learn from the personality traits and not the gender! I know indirectly have a female boss (boss' boss) and so far so good!

I've had one good female boss and one bad female boss. I've always gotten along with my male bosses, so I'd have to say that I prefer to have a male boss, but -- like Kate -- would try to keep an open mind ...