In the hit movie, “The Devil Wears Prada,” Meryl Streep plays a ferocious fashion editor who mashes underlings of both sexes under her stylish stiletto heels. And many reviewers have praised her character as all too recognizable.
This typical comment appeared in The Observer of London: “I’d rather eat my own opaque tights than have to admit this, but all my worst bosses have been women. God knows some of the men have had their flaws too, but the relationships have been less intense somehow. I don’t think men are any less moody or any more talented; it’s just that they don’t tend to engage with women in the same hothouse way ...”
This anonymous but obviously female writer is backed up by a recent poll for Lifetime Women’s Pulse. About 45 percent of the women surveyed preferred a male boss, with about 30 percent opting for a supervisor of their own gender.
Well, we want to register a strong dissent. Over the last 40 years, we’ve served under many managers of both sexes, and most of our best bosses have been women.
One reason is revealed in a study discussed recently at the American Sociological Association. Women earn about 81 cents for every dollar earned by men, but that goes up to 91 cents when women are senior managers. “If women break through the glass ceiling, it helps other women,” said professor Philip N. Cohen, the study’s co-author.
The Old Girls’ Network is real. When women attain clout in the workplace they can use that influence to help other women – just the way male bosses have always helped their buddies.
The more important issue is one of style and priorities. With 3-out-of-5 working-age women now employed (up from 2-in-5 in 1967), the single biggest problem facing many young parents is balancing the demands of work and family. And in our experience, women managers are often quicker to recognize that problem and more sensitive in helping their employees handle it.
One example: ABC staffers received an e-mail from a female manager. With school about to start, said the message, we think you should take your child on the first day, so talk to your supervisor about arranging time off. When Cokie thanked the manager for her policy, she got this reply: “Once a Mom always a Mom.”
How refreshing. When our kids were small, we had to sneak out of work to attend a parent-teacher conference or a Halloween parade.
