Have you ever heard someone use the term "lady doctor?" Or assume that a secretary is female?
Bosses, cultural standards would tell us, are men, so does that mean a female boss wouldn't be accepted? New research suggests that the number of workers in the U.S. who say they would prefer Bob to Betty is dropping, according to The Huffington Post.
In 2000, 48 percent of 1,032 U.S. employees over the age of 18 surveyed said they would prefer a male boss, down from 66 percent in 1953. A new Gallup study found that today 33 percent of workers say they would prefer a male boss, but 46 percent of the workers in the study said they don't care.
The number of employees who would prefer working for a female has risen to 20 percent, but even women are more likely to choose a male boss over a female boss, according to Rebecca Rifkin, who works for Gallup.
"Currently, both genders would prefer a male boss, with 26 percent of men and 39 percent of women saying they would prefer a male boss if they were to take a new job," wrote Rifkin.
Rifkin wrote that Fortune reported the number of female CEOs hit a "historic high" this year - 4.8 percent of Fortune 500 CEOs are women.
"Furthermore, workers who currently have a female boss are more likely than those who have a male boss to prefer a female boss in the future," Rifkin wrote. "This could mean that as more women enter management, preference for female bosses could continue to rise."
