I'm not going to say I hate to throw a spanner in the works, because spanner-throwing is my hobby!
It does not matter who or what you are, it's down to the position you occupy.
As a young man I worked in IT in a small factory making window-frames for the building trade. 70% of the employees were male, as were all the managers and team leaders. When I tried to get the place run by means of the systems developed by the software company we used -which were very efficient -I received a barrrage of complaints and abuse from manager and team -leaders anxious to protect their own little empires and ways of doing things. Long story short, I caught a manager molesting a young woman from HR and called him out. He went for me and I decked him and got fired. So much for chivalry, though I'd do it again tomorrow!
Many years later, as a Civil Servant, I worked in an organisation where 75% of the staff were female, all the directors, all but one of the managers (the exception was IT) and all the team leaders were women. The atmosphere was toxic and competitive. Blame for errors was shifted down and across. Everyone was willing to throw everyone else under the bus. Plus Political Correctness ruled. I was asked to shave my beard because a) I am not a Muslim and b) "It's just like waving your penis in my face!". I got round that one by claiming Viking ancestry (I come from Yorkshire) and a cultural right to facial hair. I was asked to speak in a higher register because my natural baritone is "too deep, male and threatening". I was told that greeting my wife with a kiss was potentially offensive to gay colleagues. There was (I kid you not) a serious proposal that all female staff should be 'encouraged' to wear the hijab, countered by an equally serious one that all 'clothing and items of religious significance' should be banned in the office. Not sure if that would have included my Great Cthulhu coffee-mug, but never mind!
My point being, that putting a person, any person, in a position of power and authority runs a significant risk of turning them into a bully, a backstabbing egotist or driving them completely barking mad! I never went for management as I didn't fancy becoming the first or second of these and am over-qualified on the third.
So my experience has been that, in the matter of exercising authority or power, there is not a hair's difference between men and women. They are quite as bad as each other! I begin to suspect it's just human nature -power corrupts. Which is why some people advise that power should be given to those who want it least, or preferably not at all! As long as you don't give it to me, I'm a terrible grouch!
Could I have my spanner back, please?
