Do Americans prefer a male boss over a female boss? Or do most of them not really give a darn? A recent Gallup poll suggests many more folks are more indifferent than preferring one or the other.
The survey results indicate that "Americans still prefer a male boss to a female boss." But a look at their data would indicate that's not really the case.
When asked whether they preferred one over the other, 46 percent said they had no preference. For the remaining 53 percent, male bosses were preferred, by 33 percent to 20 percent. But the results raise a question about what surveys really prove.
Recommended For You
Gallup provided its results on this question going back to 1953. Then, people unquestionably preferred male bosses — 66 percent to 5 percent. Even so, back in the day, 25 percent of the old-boys club still said they didn't care one way or the other.
That all began to change in the '70s, as a preference for male bosses began to take a serious nose dive. By 1993, the preference for male bosses had dropped all the way to 33 percent. The only time it was lower was in 2002, when it hit 31 percent. Male boss preference made a comeback in the late 1990s, peaking at 48 percent, but then cratered to 31 percent in 2002. It moved back up to 37 percent in 2005, but has generally declined since.
Female boss preference has never been very high — it peaked at 22 percent in 2000. That preference has tended to move in tandem with male boss preference since the mid-1990s, but generally, the swings aren't as sharp as the preference swings for male bosses. Both male and female preference dipped slightly in the last year as the percentage of indifferent increased.
The indifference answer has moved steadily upward, with a few peaks and valleys between 1994 and 2002, until today's 46 percent (not quite the historical peak but very close).
The most indifferent of respondents are men — 58 percent of them said they didn't care who was in the corner office, be it man or woman. Women are more discretionary — only 34 percent say they don't care. They do prefer male bosses, 39 percent to 25 percent.
So maybe it's correct to say that many women prefer male bosses, while most men don't care. (Just 25 percent of men said they preferred a male boss, leaving 14 percent indicating a preference for a female boss.)
Oddly enough, Gallup reported that 51 percent of working Americans have a male boss, and 33 percent have a female boss.
Who's telling the rest what to do? Gallup does not disclose that one.
© 2025 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.
Dan Cook
Dan Cook is a journalist and communications consultant based in Portland, OR. During his journalism career he has been a reporter and editor for a variety of media companies, including American Lawyer Media, BusinessWeek, Newhouse Newspapers, Knight-Ridder, Time Inc., and Reuters. He specializes in health care and insurance related coverage for BenefitsPRO.
