---
title: "Perceptions about women bosses improve, but gap remains"
description: "Women still lag when it comes to holding top managerial positions. And among those with a preference, both men and women say they prefer a male boss and co-workers."
date: "2014-08-07"
authors:
  - name: "Anna Brown"
    job_title: "Research Methodologist"
    link: "https://www.pewresearch.org/staff/anna-brown/"
url: "https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2014/08/07/perceptions-about-women-leaders-improve-but-gap-remains/"
categories:
  - "Business & Workplace"
  - "Comparison of Generations"
  - "Economics, Work & Gender"
  - "Gender"
  - "Gender & LGBTQ"
  - "Gender & Work"
  - "Gender Equality & Discrimination"
---

# Perceptions about women bosses improve, but gap remains

Women may have made [measurable progress in the workplace](https://www.pewresearch.org/social-trends/2013/12/11/10-findings-about-women-in-the-workplace/) over the last few decades, yet old ways die hard. Women still lag when it comes to holding top managerial positions. And among those with a preference, both men and women say they prefer male bosses and co-workers.

[![FT_14.07.06_femaleBosses (1)](https://www.pewresearch.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2014/08/FT_14.07.06_femaleBosses-11.png)](https://assets.pewresearch.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/12/2014/08/FT_14.07.06_femaleBosses-11.png)

Only 24 women (about 5%) currently are CEOs of Fortune 500 companies, according to an [analysis by Catalyst](http://www.catalyst.org/knowledge/fortune-500-ceo-positions-held-women), a nonprofit seeking to expand opportunities for women. Yet this is up from 20 female CEOs in 2013, and only one in 1998. Less than [9% of top management positions](http://apps.olin.wustl.edu/CRES/pdf/ross.pdf) are filled by women, and the rates have declined in some key sectors in recent years. A [similar analysis by Catalyst](https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2013/12/11/whos-the-boss-in-u-s-business-its-mostly-men/) last year — this one looking at Fortune 1000 companies — found 45 women CEOs, up from 16 a decade prior, but still less than 5% of all top jobs.

Gallup has been tracking gender preferences in the workplace [since 1953](http://www.gallup.com/poll/165791/americans-prefer-male-boss.aspx), when fully two-thirds of American adults (66%) said they would prefer a male boss if they had a choice in a new job. Another 25% volunteered that it made no difference, and only 5% said they would prefer a female boss. As of November 2013, the gap has narrowed but remains. A plurality (41%) say it makes no difference, but the rest prefer a male boss over a female boss by 35%-23%.

Women are the most likely to say they prefer a male boss, according to Gallup. Though half of men (51%) say they have no preference for the gender of their boss, only 32% of women agree. Fully 40% of women say they prefer a male boss compared with 27% who say they prefer a female boss, while 29% of men say they would prefer a male boss, compared with 18% who prefer a female boss.

[![Who Wants To Be Boss?](https://www.pewresearch.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2014/08/FT_Boss.Generations.png)](https://www.pewresearch.org/social-trends/2013/12/11/on-pay-gap-millennial-women-near-parity-for-now/)

This squares with the findings of a 2013 [Pew Research Center survey](https://www.pewresearch.org/social-trends/2013/12/11/on-pay-gap-millennial-women-near-parity-for-now/). About three-quarters of men and women who are currently employed or have ever worked say [they have no preference](https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2013/12/16/who-men-and-women-prefer-as-their-co-workers/) for working mostly with men or working mostly with women. Of those who do have a preference, though, both genders are more likely to prefer to work with men — a view that is especially pronounced among female employees.

The [Pew Research survey](https://www.pewresearch.org/social-trends/2013/12/11/on-pay-gap-millennial-women-near-parity-for-now/#gender-work-and-leaning-in) also found that women were less likely than men to say they would like to be the boss or top manager one day or are already the boss (44% of women vs. 60% of men). In fact, 53% of women say they would *not *like to be the boss.

Although men across all age groups are more likely to aspire to be a boss or top manager, the gap between men and women is smallest among Millennials — those ages 18 to 32 in 2013. Among this generation, 70% of men who are not already a boss say they would like to be, compared with 61% of women.