Why High-Powered Female Bosses Don't Necessarily Help Other Women Succeed

By Shana Lebowitz

On some level, it makes sense to think that a woman who's struggling professionally would benefit from working for a high-powered female boss, since the manager might serve as a role model and motivate the employee to succeed.

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However, new research suggests that pairing a low-performing woman with a high-performing female boss could potentially create bigger problems.

The study, conducted by Sameer B. Srivastava, Ph.D. and doctoral student Eliot Sherman at the University of California, Berkeley's Haas School of Business, found that low-performing women who switched from a male supervisor to a high-performing female supervisor earned substantially less than men who made a similar shift.