When it came to the trust factor, employee responses to questions about male versus female leader ethics revealed another gender gap. 

"The survey found that women are much more likely than men to give their leaders low ratings on key attributes of ethical leadership. For example, 67 percent of male employees said their senior leaders could be trusted, but just 57 percent of women shared that confidence," ECI said. "Women also feel less positive about their companies. Approximately two-thirds of men said employees could question management without fear, but just 56 percent of women agreed. There was a similar 10 percentage point gap (72 percent to 62 percent) between the genders when asked if they would recommend their company as a place to work." 

Yet another gender gap emerged when employees were asked to evaluate male and female bosses based upon their primary corporate mission. 
 
"Employees said female leaders were more likely to use the company for creating positive change in the outside world. Male leaders, on the other hand, were seen as caring more about beating competitors." 

ECI said it's up to those at the helm to correct this gender inequity at the top. 

"We are convinced that strong ethical leadership can change these disparities between men and women's experiences in the workplace. Our prior research has shown that workplace misconduct declines when leaders are effective in communicating values, and that ethics violations and ethics risk fall in companies whose leaders focus on equality."