A new Gallup poll found 55 percent of Americans have no gender preference for their boss, the first time a majority of Americans indicated such since Gallup began measuring leadership gender preferences in 1953.
Gallup surveyed 1,028 adults over the phone between Nov. 2 and Nov. 8.
When the poll was first conducted 64 years ago, 66 percent of respondents said they would prefer a male boss, with 25 percent reporting they did not have a preference. Only 5 percent said they would prefer a female boss. The latest poll found 23 percent of respondents would prefer a male boss while 21 would prefer a female boss.
However, Gallup notes that these changes in preference are not always reflected in the workplace.
"Just as the percentage of employed Americans working for a female boss hasn't changed much in recent years, women remain scarce in upper management levels. In June, Fortune reported that 32 CEOs of Fortune 500 companies are women," Gallup's Megan Brenan writes. "While this marks the highest proportion of female CEOs in the history of the Fortune 500, there is clearly room for more women to enter top management tiers at America's largest corporations."