If American employees taking a new job were given a choice, they would prefer to work for a male over a female, a survey showed.
Thirty-five percent of respondents said they preferred a male boss, compared with 23 percent who preferred a female boss, according to a Gallup poll of 2,059 adults across the U.S. published on Monday. The remainder said their boss's gender makes no difference.
"Both men and women prefer a male boss. (But) women are more likely than men to have a preference, with higher proportions expressing preferences for each gender of boss," Gallup said.
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Sixty-three percent of women expressed a preference for their boss' gender, compared with 52 percent of males.
While there continues to be a wide gap in preferences between male and female bosses, the proportion of Americans who favor a female boss has increased by 18 percentage points over the past six decades, while there has been a 31-percentage-point decline in those who would prefer a male boss.
The gender of employees' current boss appears to affect preferences, the survey indicated.
Preference for female bosses is higher among those who currently work for a woman; the same goes for those who currently work for a man.
Of those surveyed, 54 percent have a male boss, while 30 percent have a female boss; the remainder do not have a boss.
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Interestingly, age is also key factor behind preferences, with younger employees (aged 18-34) more likely to prefer a male boss, than older employees (aged 35-54).
Political partisanship is also a driver of attitudes toward the gender of one's boss. Democrats essentially broke even in their preferences, while Republicans and independents opted for a male boss, the survey showed.
—By CNBC's Ansuya Harjani; Follow her on Twitter: @Ansuya_H
