If you answered yes then you’re in good company - so do 76% of all American workers according to a new study from WorkPlace Media. The recent New York Post article that talked about this study asked several experts to weigh in with their thoughts on why this might be the case. Here are some reasons why they thought that workers don’t want to work for women:

Women in positions of power are regarded as arrogant and bitchy due to societal stereotypes.

If a woman is juggling work and family she might not be focused on the needs of her team and employees.

A female boss won’t fight for the best interests of her department because women are known to negotiate less and ask for things less often and less strongly than men.

Women take everything personally. 

I can spend a day writing a too-long-to-read blog post refuting each of these points but I could also look back at my career and see that my favorite bosses were always male. Partly this is because I’ve worked in male-dominated industries so the number of female bosses was tiny to start with. But this is also because I’ve worked for some women who were, in fact, bitchy, took everything personally, treated me differently than their male reports, and didn’t fight for my interests as much as I think they should have.

The one reason from the list above that I have the most issue with is the suggestion that a mom juggling work and family cannot be an effective boss because she can’t focus on what she needs to do at work.  Women are the ultimate multitaskers and it is an insult to suggest that moms can be effective at work because they have kids. There are plenty of fathers deeply involved in their families and the raising of their kids - is this to suggest that those men also cannot be effective bosses?

We’ve talked about the issue of female bosses before on Work It, Mom! - check out this post that Kelly Watson wrote on the topic and the many reactions it received from the community. I am very curious to hear your thoughts and opinions about female and male bosses and whether you  have a preference at work and what your experiences have been. Sound off!