In light of Hillary Clinton’s attempt to “smash through the ultimate glass ceiling,” Elle magazine and MSNBC.com conducted a survey to determine attitudes regarding gender roles in the workplace.
Though more than half the 60,000 respondents had no preference as to the gender of workplace leaders, of those who did, most, including 75 percent of the women, preferred a man as a boss. The survey found that age-old stereotypes abound in the workplace — not only among men, but also among women.
Despite great strides toward gender equality in the workplace, our culture is still bombarded with messages that women should be the supportive nurturers, while men should take charge. Women who are ambitious and aggressive still seem to scare both men and women — but, fortunately, not as many as they used to.
Posted by Patrice Hein
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39 Comments
This is unfortunately true.
However, to remedy it – we must not forget to support women candidates JUST BECAUSE they are running – but treat them as we would any male candidate.
Look at their agenda – their platform, and their life accomplishments.
For me – Hillary is WAY off in left field.
But I would vote for Condaleeze Rice in a heartbeat.
Rice? She’s a sheep, an administration lackey. Hasn’t shown an ounce of leadership on any issue related to foreign policy as Sec. of State and pretty much was a complete failure as National Security Advisor. She’s never held an elected position and would rather be the NFL Commissioner ….. let her go play with the big boys of the NFL — she would do less harm to the country.Hillary isn’t much better – she carries way too much baggage and strikes fear in the hearts of too many people to be elected in the general election.It’s interesting that the qualities we (men and women) might admire in a male politician “..ambitious and aggressive”, are cause for concern and derision when found in a woman.
Ken
“..ambitious and aggressive “.
This is not Hillary’s problem. Bitter, hatefull, Marxist is Hillary’s problem.
Most women know what men have always known and that is that women are different from men in their way of thinking. Men tend to be logically oriented while women are more emotionally oriented. Men think with their heads, women with their hearts. While both have their place in society most people want a “take charge and get it done” person at the helm and men are more “take charge” people. Especially in these times. After 9-11 you noticed men like Gulianni taking charge while most women spent the day weeping. If the country is attacked I don’t want my President weeping. Aside from that I don’t like Hillary anyway. I think she has way too much baggage and she will not only lose but bring lots of Democrats down with her. I will vote for her if she is the nominee but I pray she won’t be.
What is wrong with saying that women should be the supportive nurturers?
Hillary strikes fear for EXACTLY THE REASONS LISTED IN THE ARTICLE. She isn’t even that far left!!! Compare her to Dennis Kucinich or Howard Dean…she’s closer to moderate in her positions and voting record than almost all the other Dem candidates–looks a lot like Joe Lieberman on paper. She’s even pro-Iraq.
Your fears about her are locked up ine the Limbaugh Lingo of sexism and simplification–all women with brains on the left side are “feminazis.”
The far right, a much more mainstream entity than the far left, has taken gener and racial equity back thirty years with this sort of crap.
Joe–the problem with assuming women are always the nurterers is that it creates an expectation of behavior that is considered antithetical for leadership, and discomfort when they actually behave like what we expect in a leader.
Doh.
I find it interesting that over the years more women I know have been critical of women in power, than men. Not any particular woman, just women in power, in general.
Billary has the unique possibility of setting back any opportunities women might have by at least 100 years, but hopefully it won’t get to that point.
“The survey found that age-old stereotypes abound in the workplace — not only among men, but also among women.”
If this poll was taken by people in the workplace, not from some abstract. I’m not sure if “stereotype” would fit here. If the stereotype is, for instance, a female boss is crabby and emotional when “Aunt Flo” is visiting, then that’s not a stereotype, it’s real.
I fail to see the big deal in any of this. I have had male bosses/female bosses and some have been good, some have been bad (both genders). We have had female council members, legislators and currently have a female governor. I fail to see the hoopla.
Hillary scares me. Her extreme views bother me a lot more than her gender.
It is claimed that Mrs. Woodrow Wilson was defacto president during her husband’s incapacity.Eleanor Roosevelt was also the “power behind the throne” in many ways. contrary to popular opinion, some women ARE logos driven. I am one of them. I believe the problem with electing a woman to the presidency is in the available choices. We don’t need a woman prone to temper tantrums (Clinton), and Rice has little popular appeal. Naked ambition and aggressiveness are not attractive qualities in either gender. Assertiveness and decisiveness are preferred. When a viable candidate is found, I don’t think the people will have a problem electing her based on issues rather than gender.
I think that the stats are subject to interpetation. I know sometimes I’d rather work for a male boss because it’s easier. Women supervisors tend to be more detail oriented, insightful, and have the ability to think abstractly and have better critical thinking skills, men tend to see things in black and white (this is a generalizationd, so spare me the butt chewing, please) and they don’t pay attention to the consequences of their choices because often their ego has a role in the decisions they make.Generally, a woman boss expects more, pays attention more, and is more insightful into her decisions without the influence of ego. They’re harder to work for.I’ve yet to work with a woman supervisor (and I’ve had many) who was ruled by her emotions. She may be influenced by her empathy, but not ruled by emotion.I think women make great leaders, but Hilary would not be my choice.
You can tell how a woman is by how good she cooks. Regardless of her station in life, if she is a Senator or a Store Clerk, if the woman can cook a good, organized meal then that’s a keeper.
I’m not talking about the TV Dinner, hamburger helper – pour it out of can cooking, I’m talking making biscuits from scratch and serving up a full course dinner without a sweat.
No I’m not a sexist, just have observed that women who can cook, organize and clean their kitchen are keepers in any venue they may be in, politics or in their career.
The woman that serves up fast food more than three times a week, thinks a gourmet dinner is a frozen steak and packaged home fries is not a keeper and probably not very organized.
This type of woman might remember to turn on the dishwasher if she could only remember to get the unrinsed dishes out of the sink first. Definitely not a keeper.
The same applies to men on how handy they are around the house and taking care of their cars.
If they don’t know an awl from a screwdriver and can’t remember what year they changed the oil on their car, then throw this chump back in the sea.
Just saying.
Yer right Tracy. She is obsessed, every day.
Yer losin’ it, farmie.
Tracy hasn’t posted on this thread yet.
Smooth move, Ex-Lax.
Just a little obsessed today?
LOL – I’d say YOU were. Responding to folks who haven’t even posted on this thread.
Something making you nervous?
What’s the problem?
Anybody else think the editors could have picked a better picture to lead this thread?While nicely dressed, her hair style is not so great.
RKan Ha! You’re obviously a man! I can cook up a great meal AND fix everything around the house, plus I maintain my own car.Sterotypes like yours are no longer valid.
As for me, I have only had one good experience with a woman boss, she actually was more concerned about accomplishments than how she was going to impress others that she was capable of being a boss. I think a lot of women bosses think they have to prove to the higher ups that they are capable of being a supervisor just like the men and they treat everyone badly in doing so, especially the women. Years ago, when I was in basic training we started out with a woman as our drill sgt and I can tell you I was especially happy when she was replaced with a male. He was still hard on us but he didn’t make it personal. For some reason, women make it personal. At my last job we had a male boss for 8 years and he did a good job, he expected us to do our work, but you could tell that he also respected us and knew that we wanted to do our job well. Then he left and we got a new boss who was a woman. She met behind closed doors with a lady who was our temporary boss during the summer months. When they were through, she had already pre-determined who she wanted to stay and who she wanted to leave, clearly not based on our capabilities but on what she was told. Needless to say, all of us left but a few and there were less than 20 of us to start with. I think women tend to play more politics and back stab at each other and let their emotions get in the way. Come to think of it, that is how it is between girls at the middle school where my daughter attends. However, that male judge in the Anna Nicole Smith trial proved that men can be just as emotional. There is a place for emotions and being a judge, a supervisor and especially the President of the United States is not the place. By the way, if there was a good woman running for President and I agreed with her issues, I would vote for her. However, Hillary Clinton is not her and I don’t really like any of the candidates right now, Democrats or Republicans.
“By the way, if there was a good woman running for President and I agreed with her issues,…”
The truth is the hard core feminists and radical race mongers are wrong about who America will vote for. The average American will vote for a woman or a Black or even a Black woman. By and large, this country is not nearly as sexist or as racist as they would have you believe. To believe otherwise would put them out of business.
MCaruso, then you are most likely a keeper if you can do all of that.
You can tell a lot how a person actually is bu how they keep house, male or female.
Fleet – that hairstyle IS rather dated. You would think the WEBlog editors could come up with one that represented today’s female executive.
Like mine – a ponytail on top of my head.
;)
Anyone know who that woman is? She looks like a post-chemotherapy cancer survivor with that hairdo. If so, that’s a good thing, but it doesn’t look like something one would have voluntarily.
This thread pisses me off so bad. Not only the ‘women are more emotional’ crap, but assuming that we’re just better caregivers is bs.
I’ve been a caregiver for many years, and I’ve seen excellent male caregivers and excellent female caregivers. I’ve also seen emotionally unstable men, and hard as nails women.
What we all are is people, and women make just as good bosses and leaders as anyone else.
Enema takes any opportunity to bash upon women, but by his rantings on here, it’s quite apparent that ANYONE would make a better person than he would. Even us poor lowly women.
And I don’t understand how some can call Hillary a radical anything, or how she’ll set back women 100 years. My goodness you people are scared of her aren’t you.
I can’t wait till she’s elected.
Blonde ambition, you should really change your email if you don’t want to be identified as the religious reich wing radical from mactown.
It’s no wonder you dont like women in power. God forbid it in the bible afterall.
Khan, your stereotypes are disgusting. My keeper hates working on cars, and I can cook like a champ but am not all that organized. But I think you just have a little wee-wee and that’s why you like to degrade women. Heaven forbid they get some real man meat and dump your sorry ass.
One that will cook THEM a gourmet meal and clean the kitchen.
PMom: No, we’re not afraid of Billary. We’re afraid we’ve got nobody to run. We’re afraid Billary will buy the Democratic nomination, and coupled with a lackluster roster of Republicans, could actually be elected. She is a mean, deceitful, hateful and vindictive bitch who will make Dubya look like a great president. She will destroy whatever world respect is left of this once great country. That’s what we’re afraid of!
OH WHATEVER, and you think Rudy is better? He’s 1000x’s worse!
If you think HIllary is mean, god I’d hate to see your standards.
By the way, your buddy Rudy is dissing the FDNY firemen who don’t like him much anyway.
Just because Hillary EARNS more money doesn’t mean she’s buying her nomination. I plan to send money to her too. Because I, like MANY others, want her in that office.
Dang, the woman in that picture above aint milfy at all. No wonder she’s not making it.
PMom: I don’t believe I said anything about Rudy or any of the other lackluster losers. And, if you think she’s spending her own money, you’re delusional. The Clinton money machine has been amassing a fortune for 30 years or more. Get a grip, girl.
As for the money she earns, she’s as overpaid as Brownjerk, and most of the rest of the bastards in Congress.
Women are FAR better in leadership positions than men. The few negatives they have come from trying to make it in a historically male dominated culture. Women stress cooperation over competition when men are not screwing it up.
I can’t see the problem. If she’s female, has the brains and can do the job, why does her gender become an issue? As for those people that have issues with it in this country, take a cue from the rest of the world.If we elected a woman president, the sun wouldn’t go nova, the galaxy wouldn’t explode, and the country wouldn’t collapse overnight.Besides, look what we have running things now, and the spectacularly f****d up job they are doing. I’m ready for a better option, and if that means a female, lets get on with it it.
I agree, we’re long overdue for a woman president, but I honestly don’t think we’ve evolved enough past the Christian theology that our country embraces. The Bible is as sexist as it gets, and women still have a lot more to overcome if we’re ever going to be seriously considered for leader of the free world. I just don’t think we’re there yet, and not for a black president,especially one so young and inexperienced, either. It’s hasn’t even been 50 years since blacks and whites couldn’t eat in the same restaurants or use the same bathrooms. I can actually remember the show down between George Wallace and Bobby Kennedy over school integration, and there are too many bigots still around, especially in the South. If Obama or Hilary get the nomination, I really think the Republicans will have the White House for another 8 yrs. Can we really afford that? I’d rather see the Democrats nominate someone who is truly electable. This isn’t the time for optimistic dreaming.
Mary
The GOP can’t win in 08. They will tear each other apart in the primaries. Whoever survives to nomination will either lose most of the base or be unelectable by moderates. Lose lose.
That is why we must be very careful choosing our nominee. That person IS going to be the next President.
By the time 08 rolls around, the Democrats will have screwed up so much they will never get elected to anything again.
There is no doubt that in 2008 the election is ours to lose. The Republicans have so messed up the country that people really want to see them gone. That is why we need to nominate a candidate that can win. I just don’t happen to think that Hillary is that candidate. I believe that, in 2008, the conservatives will largely sit out the elction because the Republican nominee will be either McCain or Gulianai both of which are social liberals. The only thing that will bring them to the polls is Hillary. It is too bad that often our best and brightest candidates- people like Evan Bayh and Bill Richardson- who have experience and good resumes- cannot compete because we are always looking for a “star” candidate.
You’re right, JR. Who would you like to see the democrats nominate? I don’t think Hilary or Obama have a snowball’s chance in hell.
Obama has too little experience.
Hillary troubles me because of the appearance at least of dynasty. The thing I LIKE about her is that the right hates her so much. Need to see more.
I’m glad Kerry is out. Sheesh even though he was swiftboated, how in the hell was it even CLOSE after four years of bush?
Need to know more about ALL those who are actively running.
If I could choose?
I think I’d like to see Al Gore run. Though THAT might polarize some who have soured on bush back to a defensive staunch Republican stance. The memory of 2000 will last a long time on BOTH sides. Too it may be that Al Gore has a more important role to play. Being President might dilute that.
But like I say, we must be informed and choose carefully. This one is ours to lose more than anytime since Nixon.
I agree. I’d LOVE to see Al Gore run, I really think he could win the election, plus I think he’d make a damn good president.