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Survey: Female Bosses May Cause More Stress

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Nov 5, 2008 10:20 pm US/Eastern

Survey: Female Bosses May Cause More Stress

(KDKA) Job stress affects 40 percent of American workers. But are you likely to be more stressed out if your boss is a woman?

A recent survey found that women with a female boss reported more psychological and physical distress than those who worked for a man.

"We have expectations for bosses. Bosses are leaders, in command, strong, visionary, which women are," says Jan Shubert, the director of the Women In Leadership program at Babson College.

But society also stereotypes women as being nurturing, calm and collaborative.

"When the boss looks different, sounds different, behaves differently than we expected, then the stress level goes up," said Shubert.

Some "working girls" mistakenly expect a female boss to be an understanding friend and are disappointed when it doesn't happen.

"I thought this person was going to help me, guide me along, and she's doing exactly what the guys have been doing," says one employee, Sheila Murphy.

"I would certainly encourage young women to sit down with their boss and ask what they're looking for and what their expectations are and to realize that at the end of the day it is about the work," says Shubert.

Experts say it has only been 30 years since women started sitting at the head of the corporate table, and as the number of female bosses goes up, stress levels will go down.

A study conducted by the University of Toronto also found that men had the same amount of stress whether they worked for a male boss or a female boss.




(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)

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