Do Men Still Have A Problem With Female Bosses?

“Where are the women?” was the rallying cry of Moya Greene, the Canadian boss of Royal Mail, who felt that the lack of female bosses in the UK was ‘weird’ and not representative of the whole population.

And despite policies and promotions to redress the balance the same question can still be asked.

Insurer LV found that around 41 per cent of women in the UK earn more than their male partner, up from an estimated 26 per cent two decades ago. But despite female bosses increasingly becoming the norm, are some men still struggling to accept that their basic gender doesn’t immediately give them a leg up? And resenting the women who overtook them on merit?

It’s alright telling our daughters they can be whatever they want, and saying that prospects for women are improving. But as the Everyday Sexism project shows, and the fact that the boardroom ratio is still so male-skewed, some men still haven’t got their head round the basic equality and respect we expect from modern working relationships.

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When it comes to some workplaces, especially if there is a male-orientated canteen culture, male attitudes to female bosses can still be chauvinistic and resentful. In such cases women often have had to prove themselves (usually to a far higher standard than their male colleagues) before being accepted and respected in a senior position.

Carol who worked recently at Smithfield’s Market in London as a ticket manager admits that she had a tough time to be accepted in what is one of the last bastions of male preserve and macho environments, even though the first female to work at the famous market was back in 1945.

“Maybe it’s something to do with all the meat, knives and chainmail gloves they wear?” laughs Carol. “It’s a testosterone charged atmosphere. Most of the guys were welcoming and respectful when I first joined but some went out of their way to have a dig and even provoke me with dirty jokes and leaving pornography around. I left for a more genteel environment in catering.”

Carol didn’t succumb to the kind of infantile taunting you’d expect in a playground and after showing some of the more challenging male workers that she was not only competent at her job but could cuss with the best of them, she gradually won their respect.

But behaving in a stereotypically male way is not going to change the out-dated status quo, and reduces the benefits women have in working environments, which is one of the reasons redressing the male-female balance is so important in the first place.

“I think in those kinds of environments women have a tough time to be accepted, especially in positions over the men. Maybe the guys see you as a threat to their exclusive boy’s club?” Carol suggests.

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Double Standards

Some of the reasons men say they find female bosses difficult to accept range from generalisations of being 'over controlling' to 'always being right'. But aren’t these traits also true of men in managerial and senior posts?

"There still persists double standards, one rule for men and one for women” says Rebecca Newman, agony aunt for GQ magazine. “A man is accepted as being tough and single minded, while a woman is simply seen as a ‘bitch’.

“Guys certainly don’t have to deal with the same issues. A man in a senior position is more accepted because it reflects the status quo. It's been part of historical tradition that women were oppressed and stayed at home. Which is why even today women generally have to work harder and prove themselves to get into manager positions.”

Male Insecurities

Equally outside of manual worker occupations some of the less flattering views of women bosses came from young men working in the creative industries. Jed, 32, who operates as a freelance web designer for a Soho company felt ‘less secure’ or ‘comfortable’ around a female boss because of worries of offending.

“When it was a female boss I was more self conscious about what I was saying in the workplace. Worried that any horseplay banter might be considered inappropriate and get me into hot water.”

Franco, 29, who works at a Shoreditch IT company, believes his work place would have a different vibe if it has a female boss.  “I love working with female colleagues but I think having a woman for a boss would be tougher to deal with. I think women can be more ruthless. Just look at Rebecca Brooks!”

And if fears of being emasculated or hauled over the coals for locker-room ribbing is one reason some men feel ill at ease with female bosses, there’s also the old chestnut about being ‘too hormonal’ that is trotted out to undermine women taking senior positions.

It’s a little surprising and alarming to hear these points of view from young men who have grown up with more equality and strong female role models than previous generations.

Are the just disgruntled that they now have to compete with women on an equal level too or is there something more sinister at work?

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Higher expectations

According to former ‘Tatler’ editor Jane Proctor in a Mail Online interview, it is often women bosses who are expected to be the ones who offer a shoulder to cry on – for female and male employees - and use their offices as a ‘psychiatrist’s couch’.

Proctor herself was criticised in an article for being a ‘bitchy boss’ by another female colleague. In her defence Proctor highlighted double standards where women bosses not only have to be efficient and competent but also act as mother hens, offering a listening ear for their underlings’ emotional crises.

Whereas male bosses can generally get away with being unsympathetic and detached and not be criticised for it in the same way.

There’s no doubt that we’ve a long way to go and some men are still struggling to let go of the privileges being male might have given them a hundred or even fifty years ago. But as we see the rise of powerful female CEOs and increasingly equal representation in offices and boardrooms, they’re going to have to suck it up.