Work-related ...
Women in work ~
For as long as I can remember, I have never been able to understand why women aren't paid the same as men if they're doing the same job. There are obviously some jobs that generally men can do better than women, but they are mostly physically-demanding roles ~ in the building trade, perhaps, is a good example. But, other than those, there should never be any disparity. (The reason why it exists, of course, is twofold ~ firstly, it would impinge on the egos of male staff members, and secondly, it helps bosses to split the workforce, in the same way they do with disabled staff and migrant workers.)
One 'boss' once told me he wouldn't employ women in management roles for two reasons: their mood swings while on their period, and the time off they'd need when having children. I'm sure there are many men who might agree with this reasoning (if so, perhaps they should help to alleviate the situation as best they can by not sleeping with women and getting them pregnant!). In honesty, yes ~ some women do suffer badly during their period, and this might affect their work to some degree. But ~ apart from the obvious regularity involved ~ it would be no different from the many mood swings men are capable of ... and you can't predict when they’re going to happen, which I would have thought must be harder to manage.
During my working life, I have worked directly under only two women: one was very well educated, but absolutely useless at her job, spending most of her time at work carrying out an Open University course and delegating her workload to untrained and incapable underlings; the other was good at her job, but had such an obnoxious personality, no-one wanted to work for her.
All my other bosses have been men, and their number included at least one each of the above, plus many more with individual flaws of their own. There have been good ones, of course, and they were the ones who got the best out of their staff.
As for myself, when I have held management or directorship positions, I've had varying success at judging the balance between being 'one of the boys' whilst maintaining enough authority to effectively run the business. I like to think I got better over time. I may be fairly strict in my methods, but have rarely ever asked anyone to do anything I wouldn't do myself ~ which means, staff may not always like you, but they will at least have a reasonable level of respect for you.
And just one final comment ~ I’ve worked alongside many women in my time, and have enjoyed the experience almost without exception ~ whether they were paid more or less than I was. Most were similarly or more capable than their male counterparts, and ~ believe it or not ~ spent less time ‘gossiping’ than the men!
Middle Management ~
Many industries or businesses require their 'leaders' to maintain a level of distance from their workforce ~ which usually introduces the role of middle management. So many of the middle managers I've known have been in practically superfluous roles, which add nothing to the productivity of the company, and represent nothing more than being a 'buffer' between the shop floor and senior management.
These roles can have various titles, and some in them are even allowed to make the odd decision on their own, without getting the approval of their bosses. But, other than generally interfering in matters that were running well enough on their own, and introducing new working methods (and taking the flak for them), there is little more to them.
It must be a lonely job ~ being disliked (or even hated) by staff, and looked down upon by senior management, to whom you are on a par with something that they scraped off their shoes when they came in from the yard. It would take a massive wage for me to ever consider taking on such a position (the similarities end when you actually work and contribute to the production of the business) …