Poll: Many Women Choose Male Supervisors

July 12, 2006 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - A new workplace survey found that many women would rather a male boss than another woman.

The survey by career publisher Vault Inc. found that more than a quarter of women ( 28%) picked a male boss rather than a female boss (9%), while the majority of both men and women questioned said they didn’t care. More men would rather work for men than women as well; a quarter (26%) of men chose a male boss and 8% picked a female supervisor.

According to a Vault news release, women in the workplace also feel better working alongside men as colleagues. Again, although the majority of men and women had no gender preference, the next choice for women was men, as 24% prefer male co-workers and only 11% prefer working with other women.

Men’s choices were more evenly split; 17% chose male co-workers and 16% chose female co-workers.

Other findings reported 77% of female respondents think that it is still difficult for women to get ahead in the workplace, though 43% of men said they think it is still difficult for women to advance at the office.

Vault’s 2006 Gender Issues in the Workplace survey was conducted in May 2006 and includes 518 responses from employees representing a variety of industries across the country. The survey results were comprised of 52% women and 48% men.

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