How was your experience with this?

I have had good and bad bosses of both genders. The male bad bosses have been a bit more autocratic and actively sought to take credit for work I did. The female bad bosses took credit Ina slightly different way- that any contribution I made was only through their micromanaging me and staying on my back.

The good bosses of both genders were supportive caring, led rather than pushed, recognized one’s work and sought to make one the best employee one could be.

The good bosses had a lot in common. The bad bosses were assholes in their own individual manner.

I have been a nurse and a merchant marine.

The bad male bosses: Bellicose autocrats.
The bad female bosses: Passive-aggressive micro-managers.

I was lucky not to have had many bad bosses.

All in all, I’d rather work with males. They are more direct and confrontational when there is a problem and thus, easier for me to deal with.

Yes. Seems like although the sex/gender of a person is there in their personality and possibly the way they act as boss, there was way more variety from person to person. I don’t think there’s a trend except inasmuch as whatever the sex/gender qualities of each person are, comes into it. I’ve seen both strict and relaxed men and women as bosses, etc. The only things that didn’t overlap were things that don’t generally overlap in men and women in general. Things like tolerating violence and crude sexist behavior and comments, I haven’t seen in women bosses, but have seen in men. I think in general women tend to be more careful and sensitive, and in general tend to be more subtle in their perceptions and communications, whereas the men may on the whole tend to be more direct and explicit, and perhaps more casual and less literal about rules. But not always.

I have to agree with the points made about poor male bosses being autocratic and female being micro-managers. I have had male bosses that have micro-managed, but I do think it’s been more common with female bosses.

As a woman, an additional problem with male bosses is sexism. The boy’s club is alive and well where I work. Males in my role may surreptitiously get more pay in various ways. Women (and not just me) may also be loaded down with more work and with a particular type of work. I haven’t found women bosses doing these things. My experience has been women will usually be much more cautious about keeping everything above-board and transparent.

I’ve had asshole bosses that were men and asshole bosses that were women. I’ve had great bosses that were men and great bosses that were women. I’ve had a lunatic boss that was a woman. There’s no perfect boss and it would be hard for me to say which of the assholes were the hardest to work for.

I worked in a traditionally male job, and I had a total of 35 or so bosses.
The best boss was a woman.