Does your supervisor’s gender affect your work stress?

Any job can be stressful at times, but it’s possible your boss’ gender might influence your stress level.

According to researchers at the University of Toronto:

* Women who had only one female boss reported more psychological distress (such as trouble sleeping, difficulty focusing on work, depression and anxiety) and physical symptoms (such as headaches, stomach pain or heartburn, neck and back pain and tiredness) than women who worked for one male boss.
* Women who reported to a mixed-gender pair of supervisors also reported more of these symptoms than their peers who worked for a single male boss.
* Men who worked for a single supervisor, regardless of the supervisor’s gender, had similar levels of distress.
* Men who worked for a mixed-gender pair had fewer mental and physical symptoms than those working for a lone male supervisor.

Interestingly, the findings suggest that one variable is that women supervisors who display leadership skills are perceived as aggressive and “acting like men” and may be viewed more negatively than a man displaying the same skills.

Also, it speculates that many women working with women supervisors tend to work in the “caring” sector in jobs that are ” under-resourced, under-funded and under-valued,” such as social work or education” and that stress can flow down to subordinates.

I’m in one of those “caring sector” jobs, I’m a nurse.

OK, I’ll say it, I hate working for women. I always have, and I’m not sure why.

I am more comfortable working for men and perhaps this study has revealed some if the reasons.

I’m also a woman boss and I sure hope I’m not “that boss” causing undue stress.

I don’t think I am, but I must think about that some more.

I’ll do it right after I finish my surprise audit to verify that each of you are working and not wasting time on the Internet.

Don’t make me write this up for your permanent record.