My colleague and I had lunch with a couple young trainees. These are the future leaders of the bank. They are smart, articulate and many had been educated overseas. Someone raised an interesting question asking if they prefer female or male bosses. Almost all the young ladies put up their hand in preference for a male boss. Reasons for avoiding a female boss ranges from emotional instability (which I can swear apply to both genders and I still have scars from my irrational male bosses in the past) to nit-picking.
I feel that female bosses have been unfairly portrayed as Miranda Priestly in "The Devil wears Prada". When a woman is aggressive and ambitious, she is a bitch. When she's straightforward, she's either blunt or rude. When she displays emotion at work, she's irrational. When she doesn't display emotion, she's cold-blooded. When a man is aggressive and ambitious, he's simply aggressive and ambitious. When he's straightforward, he's honest. When he displays emotion at work, he's in touched with his feeling. When he doesn't display emotion at work, he's reserved.
If the young women coming up the corporate ladder think gender bias is an issue of the past generation, think again. You've just displayed the greatest bias by putting up your hands.
No comments:
Post a Comment