Tower Of Babel

In my reading of the Sunday Gleaner, I came across another of Claude Mills’ articles . This one is some of his thoughts on having female bosses.

Here are my humble views on the matter (if you care to read them). First of all, I chose an area of medicine to specialise in that in this country, is dominated by women. Our local Dermatology Association has a membership that is approximately 75% female. My boss is a woman. My previous boss (who actually was one of the persons that influenced me to do Dermatology) was also female. Do I feel as a male threatened by this? Not at all. Perhaps it is because I do not behave in a way that could be termed ‘chauvinistic’. Our unit at the hospital employs five doctors, three are women. The other male is only employed on a ‘Part Time’ basis. So, in essence, I’m the only ‘Full Time’ male on the block so to speak. I get along very well with my colleagues, and the gender issue really does not affect the work environment in a negative way that I am aware of.

I read where the article made mention of the fact that a businesswoman said she preferred to hire males as sales representatives because women have to dedicate more of their time to family related business and running households. I don’t think that this is necessarily true at all. Then again, maybe I am biassed. A fairly high percentage of the women that I know personally, are doctors. Many of them married with children as well. However, they do seem to manage to dedicate enough time to their work to do it properly, and look about their duties to their family also. In addition, the strerotypical Mother who does nothing but look about running of home, is in my opinion, an endangered species (not that I see anything wrong with that role either). This is because more and more women are becoming leaders in the workplace. It is very strongly represented here by the very heavy female bias of the graduating classes of our Universities. In addition, among those graduating, a high percentage of those who excel are women. Seems a bit paradoxical when one considers that not too long ago, when the woman’s place was solely in the home, that she would not even have been allowed the privilige of University education.

The issue of on the job sexual issues is one that will always be present in the workplace. Do I find my boss attractive? Certainly, she is in fact a quite good looking woman (married with kids as well.) Would I ever cross that barrier and ‘put argument’ (make a pass) to her? No, I don’t think of her along those lines, but that doesn’t mean I can’t find her attractive.

Do I find my present boss to be indecisive? Sometmes the answer that question is yes. But, I don’t think that it has anything to do with her gender. My previous boss was a very decisive female, but, she was a little older than my present one and of a more authoritative character. Yet, at the same time, she never came across as manipulative.

I know there are many men that feel marginalised to be taking orders from women. But, I think they need to get with the programme. Women are very much present at the workplace, and if we guys aren’t careful, they may well replace us completely. Do I have a problem working along with women? Not at all. In fact, my colleagues at work sort of regard me as the guy who looks out for their best interests. In other words, I regard them as equals, but if any male comes on the scene and tries to ‘diss’ them, I stand ready to protect them if necessary, ‘the husband’ on the block if you like.

All in all, male boss, female boss, it really does not matter to me. What matters a hell of a lot me, is the competence of the individual, and even more so, the way in which you speak to the people you work with. Orders can be delegated in a decent way, and for me, manners and common decency, is due to everyone at the workplace, regardless of your position in the heirarchy. Men and women who are good managers should have excellent communication and interpersonal skills. Qualifications alone do not give you a good rating with me. If you speak to people in a high handed manner and without respect, it naturally brings offense and makes the workplace a hostile environment. People usually do not respect a boss who behaves in this way and that only results in feelings of discontentment on the job.

Anyhow, since I seem to be getting a bit long winded and straying from the point, I will end by saying that for me the gender of the boss is not important, as long as the person can do the job effectively and with a certain amount of finesse. Any thoughts?

This entry was posted on Sunday, March 30th, 2003 at 2:15 pm and is filed under General. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.