I found out today that I have a new job starting tomorrow. When I was told the lady on the phone said
“It’s a massive company but the department you’re going into is fairly small with mostly women so don’t be scared if they try to mother you…or something”
What does ‘or something’ mean??? 
Oh and ladies, got any tips on how to go about my first day???
I get the feeling that means you’re pretty young? Then you may be in for mothering (and smothering). If they’re like my former co-workers, they’ll all but hold your hand while they train you, they’ll want to know all the details of your dating life and will be full of advice, and they’ll use every opportunity to embarrass you just a little bit by telling everyone new you meet what a good, smart boy you are. You’ll either find it sweet and charming or humiliating and condescending. Accept it in the spirit it’s offered, especially if they’re older ladies and you remind them of their sons.
Of course, if you’re older (obviously out of school and been on your own for a while), or the ladies are younger (closer to your age, less likely to view you as a surrogate son), then they’ll probably ignore you. Unless you’re a hotty, then they’ll want to date you. Unless you’re too much like a MAN (ie, mouth off, assert yourself even though you’re the newcomer, do anything that even hints that you think this should be done this way and that should be done that way because they’re the girls and you’re the man), then they’ll hate you.
But maybe that was just my office.
Good luck!
If you were a girl I’d tell you to run like hell. I can’t think of a worse work environment than an office full of women, ugh. I’d rather work with men any day.
Since you’re a guy, though, you’ll probably like it. If you’re cute and a “nice boy” the older ones will probably bake you cookies. The younger ones will flirt with you and try to set you up with their friends.
My husband has spent last couple of years as a senior admin. in an office comprised mainly of women, including the President to whom he reports. He has just been hired for a better job, but under similar conditions. As far as I can tell he has succeed by being professional, polite, and by making clear at the outset that he was not “above” doing his share of the routine low-level stuff required in a small department (including, yes, making the coffee) without complaint.
Very very generally speaking, I would say that offices with a predominance of women tend to be organized in a less hierarchical way. The person(s) in charge still make the decision, but the process leading up to the decision is more open and subject to everyone’s input.
I don’t think they would enjoy my coffee, I’ve never made a cup in my life so I’m assuming it wouldn’t be good. 
That was my first reaction in reading the OP. There’s nothing—NOTHING—worse than working with a lot of women. Catfest. I’m sorry to say something about members of my own sex, but it is the truth, at least in my experience. My last job was awful due to seriously petty, gossipy, borderline-viscious old biddies and biddies-in-training. But let’s not go into that here.
Abbie’s right—if you’re a guy, you’ll probably be okay, if not mothered a little. However, be careful. If you get into a workplace full of biddies and biddies-in-training, they may direct their toxic attentions towards you if things get slow in their own circles. Try to not talk too much about yourself or your private life. (I know this seems like obvious advice and I am assuming you’re not one to talk about yourself too much, but trust me—keep things close to your vest.)
Try not to be nervous. It’s hard on your first day, but gentle confidence will really carry. One of my jobs was all female for a long time (small place, maybe 15 employees). We only just hired two males in the two years I’ve been there. They seem excessively timid an quiet to me and it bugs the crap out of me.
Don’t be afraid to chat.
maybe I should say that our female employees are specifically screened for their lack of biddiness. We chat about other things but don’t pick on each other very much. That might make my advice different from everyone eles’.
Good luck.
Be prepared to hear, in great detail, over lunch, in the breakroom, every single last excruciating detail of pregnancies, pms, periods, shoes, bras, pantyhose, makeup, bad hair days, horrid children, even worse husbands, shoes (it comes up repeatedly!) and endless discussions about having nothing to wear. It will all come up and sometimes all of it does (along with your lunch) during the course of one 30 minute lunch break.
You have been warned! :eek:
Just chiming in on the “women are awful” parade (as a woman myself, natch.) I currently work in a very, very male world, and I wouldn’t trade it for the world. The last two jobs I had were predominantly female, and I swear I have never seen such down-and-out cattiness and cutthroat-without-a-reason nastiness. Horrid stuff.
Men have their faults, oh hell yeah, but give me men to work with any day.
I have a long history of working with women. Although I am a very analytical, not terribly feminine person, somehow I gravitate to female-dominated fields. I think being analytical and not jumping right into the emotional catfest that does occasionally crop up, helps a lot. For a woman working in a female environment, I’d recommend not investing 100% of yourself in the office popularity contest. Keep in mind the saying that “those around the water cooler will always be around the water cooler.”
I have seen many young men rise to the top quickly in female-dominated environments. If I speculate too much, I might be tempted to get bitter, but since as a fellow Doper I wish you the best, I’d say expect that chances are good that your good work will be noticed and rewarded.
Yet another woman agreeing with the “women are awful” group. All-female lab groups rarely complete assignments properly in college; when you hit the workplace, your female co-workers are either sniping at you or trying to set you up with any young male within reach. “What about a family?” they whine. “Don’t you want to raise children?”
One more thing; I hope you like it warm. Every female-dominated office I’ve ever been in has had the thermostat cranked up hot enough to melt Tupperware.
:rolleyes:
I kid! I kid! Ow!
You have to be pretty good about not judging your coworkers based on the gossip you hear about them.
I’ve gone from working in a predominately female environment to a predominately male one.
There are pros and cons to both.
In the predominately male environment, joshing/kidding around is much more…well…painful. Guys will say something negative about someone’s weight/appearance/coordination/abilities–to their face–and let themselves off the hook by saying it was “all in good fun”. This may be true, but it can lead to hurt feelings nonetheless.
Also, it can be tiring listening to penis jokes and hearing about the “hot” secretary all day long.
Homophobia seems to come out more. It’s like with all that testosterone, everyone’s got to prove their “manliness”. And that means–as one of the few women in the lab–that I have to work hard not to be intimidated and pushed-over by the chest-thumpers around me.
Don’t let anyone tell you that men don’t gossip. They do, but they just gossip about different things (like who’s screwing up, who got in trouble with the boss, who’s probably not all that bright, etc.)
On the upside, men tend to be more light-hearted and fun to work with. Jokes are funnier and you can easily tell when you’re “one of the gang”.
In the predominately female environment, there tends to be more chattiness (as in, meaningless jibberjabber). It’s sometimes hard to be productive because of this. There can also be unnecessary meanness. You will find people who don’t like each other Just Because, and sometimes someone will not like you Just Because. There will also be more “fakeness” and killer facial expressions.
Gossip consists of things like who is sleeping with who, who broke up with who, who is the Bitch of the Day and who pissed off Bitch of the Day. If you aren’t privy to the office gossip, you start wondering if you’re being talked about.
Because I’m a woman, I tend to be more relaxed in the predominately female environment. I don’t feel like I have to be something I’m not or worry about looking like a “wuss”. I didn’t feel the heat of competition in the predominately female environment. I know people talked about me behind my back sometimes, but as long as they were nice to me to my face (and just about everyone was), I didn’t care. But YMMV.
I always find this sort of comment ironic as you’re (no offense intended) being catty about women being catty.
While I agree that women can be vile doubletalking, backstabbing harpies (I’ve had to put up with one for the past month as my contact to the outside world), men are not exempt from it. I’ve worked in both environments and generally prefer the company of women and not because I’m a “nice young man” that reminds women of their sons or a hottie to be slavered over.
My advice to the OP: jobs are almost always political and a powerplay. Just be aware of that and be careful while judging everyone for yourself instead of judging based on stereotypes. While it’s true that they’re generally based on some part of fact, they can be greatly overblown and obviously don’t apply to everyone.
Good luck. Try not to worry too much.
Sex as many as you can.
There is one thing no one has warned you about.The first and last time I worked in a predominantly female office, I wound up marrying one of them.
Be afraid. Be very afraid.
just kidding, we are still together ten years later
Wow, is anyone actually in a constructive, mostly-female environment?
I sure am. Maybe it’s because my industry (customer service) is mostly female, and we tend to promote from within a lot to management, so we can weed out the immature, catty drama queens. We have 2 men in the management team, and about a dozen women. Overall I really like the environment, and I hate vicious, back-stabbing office politics. Maybe it’s because we’re all so busy and we work largely independently – but, then again, when crunch time comes, we work together pretty well. Feedback tends to be constructive and open, and a positive environment at all levels is vigorously encouraged.
There is very little gabbing about men, children, or other topics that I find a colossal bore to talk about in the workplace. We tend to talk about work a lot. In my personal life, I deal mostly with men, and it’s refreshing to not have the subtle (or not-so-subtle) chest-thumping, asserting-your-dominance type of behavior that the majority, though not all, of my own male friends show in packs of males. The environment is always somewhat political but it’s not cut-throat and tends to be quite cooperative. Maybe it’s just because we’re often in a desperate position - why fight amongst ourselves, it wastes time.
Don’t worry. See what the environment is like before panicking. Though many people in this thread may not realize it, women are actually individuals who have minds of their own. We’re not all the same. Office cultures usually are dominated by a few individuals, and you’ll find out pretty quickly who those people are and what they’re like.
Yes, I am. I’m a male working in a profession that mostly female (librarianship). For most of the 30 years that I’ve been in it, my supervisor has been a woman, and that’s not about to change. (At the moment, my supervisor is a woman, and hers is a woman too.) But I love my work, and on the whole enjoy having lots of woman in the work environment. The only downside is that many people undervalue female occupations, in terms of stuff like pay and prestige, and librarianship is no exception to that rule.