Is there any anthropological research addressing the question: Why may many of the female workers be aversive to their female co-workers but may have a strong preference for male co-workers in the workplace in the North America or elsewhere? Can anyone direct me relevant references or research materials?
Gender relationship is always a question of power, and when women fite for a place in work, they also are in a competitif world, from where they were, for long time, exclude.. Sometimes, women workers, in some kind of jobs, prefere male liders, may be because they still look to power as a male position.
Jealousy is a emotion more stronger in women than men. Another thing it is well said that woman is enemy of women. Beside, at times male co-workers may be more supportive or understanding than female co-workers. It is not that all female workers are aversive to female and all male workers support or understand their female colleagues. There are so many other factors which decide interpersonal relations. If all males support then there will be no discussion on gender studies, woman's studies or harassment at workplace or woman 'smarginalisation, feminism, patriarchy etc.
I think that we cannot talk about gender differences referring to an universal model of man and/or woman that obviously does not exist. When you pose you r question you are thinking about which man and woman, when? From where? ....working in what sector...social class? and so on.....
There is a fairly large literature examining gender, legitimacy, status, power, and how the confluence of these factors influence behavior (in work places, task groups, and so forth). Much of this is based on findings that demonstrate men more easily gain access to legitimate forms of power and influence (I'm speaking symbolically/interpersonally... not to mention material and economic forms of power). There is also some evidence that femininity (which violates "ideal worker" norms) is punished, yet agentic women (who violate femininity) may also face backlash. While much of this research speaks to gender, it can be at least somewhat extrapolated to other forms of inequality, as the mechanism can be considered that of status, not of gender (in its purest interactional/group process forms--obviously gender has other influences). There is also social psychological research on gossip, which speaks to Alethea's comments.
It's been awhile since I've delved into this literature, but here are some cites:
http://www.communicationcache.com/uploads/1/0/8/8/10887248/gender_and_social_influence.pdf
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/0022-4537.00106/full
McAndrew, F. T., Bell, E. K., & Garcia, C. M. (2007). Who Do We Tell and Whom Do We Tell On? Gossip as a Strategy for Status Enhancement1. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 37(7), 1562-1577.
Phelan, J. E., Moss‐Racusin, C. A., & Rudman, L. A. (2008). Competent yet out in the cold: Shifting criteria for hiring reflect backlash toward agentic women. Psychology of Women Quarterly, 32(4), 406-413.
Rudman, L. A., & Glick, P. (2001). Prescriptive gender stereotypes and backlash toward agentic women. Journal of social issues, 57(4), 743-762.
https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=OEghxsmGI9cC&oi=fnd&pg=PA175&dq=%22social+psychology%22+legitimacy+gender&ots=Zfeg2VsAun&sig=1gW-2wQuQdWul-O1OVaC-7YSeYg#v=onepage&q=%22social%20psychology%22%20legitimacy%20gender&f=false
Kenneth Clark showed us that the most insidious effect of racism is the tendency for members of the targeted group to disrespect their own kind. A similar effect is produced by sexism.
That women prefer male coworkers is presented as a truism but I dare to disagree with the statement. It is an interesting field to explore further though and after researching some of the literature I would like to recommend Sheppard and Aquino's paper "much ado about nothing? Observers problematization of women's same-sex conflict at work", which gives a thorough and intelligent analysis of the problem of which a great deal may well be in the eye of the beholder.
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