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&lt;p&gt;The answer to that question is a very tentative &quot;no,&quot; followed by a &quot;maybe.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Of 60,470 people surveyed for a recent study, 54% claimed to have no preference for the gender of their boss, manager, or supervisor.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;The remaining 46%, however, were a bit more divided: they preferred male to female bosses with more than a 2 to 1 ratio—with 33% stating they would prefer male bosses, 13% preferring female bosses.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;An interesting factor to take into account though: the majority of those studied (68%) were working under a male boss at the time of the study. This may indicate that comfort level is a big part of preferences, when it comes to working under men or women.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;By gender, of the women who preferred male bosses, 84% were already working under one, and 85% had never worked under a woman before. When asked to explain their reasoning for preferring male bosses, 74% reported &quot;disliking&quot; female managers, and 23% said they found female bosses less competent.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Among men who preferred bosses of their own gender, 74% were currently reporting to a man—with 86% having never worked under a woman before. Their top reasons for preferring male bosses: 28% believed female managers were less competent, and 50% simply didn&#39;t like them.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;The negative reasoning behind &quot;preferring&quot; one gender over another supports a familiarity theory: in general, rather than actively &lt;em&gt;wanting&lt;/em&gt; to work under men, those studied were simply adverse to working under women. &#160;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;On the flip side, those who preferred working for women reported actively enjoying certain aspects of the relationship, with 43% of women and 38% of men citing beliefs that women managers were more compassionate and understanding. 30% of women and 27% of men wrote that female managers were more &quot;competent.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;On the creepy (though amusing) side, 4% of men who preferred female bosses reasoned that they were &quot;sexier/prettier,&quot; and 3% found them &quot;easier to manipulate.&quot; (Unsurprisingly, 0% of women reported this effect).&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;We may still have a ways to go on this issue, but take heart, female leaders: as women continue to flood the workforce, comfort levels with leaders of both genders can only go up.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Read More:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://hum.sagepub.com/content/64/12/1555.full.pdf+html&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;The study&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;--Cathy Vandewater, Vault.com&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

Do We Prefer Male Bosses?

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