why women bosses cry (standard:humor, 1297 words)
Author: CAROL NATUKUNDA	Added: Jun 09 2005	Views/Reads: 4192/2472	Story vote: 0.00 (0 votes)
women easily cry when they r angry,while a man would only be mad-without crying. why????

Why women bosses cry 

By Carol Natukunda HOW would you react to a crying woman boss? “I would
take off. For how do I face her in such a state? Everyone might think I 
am insensitive to my boss' feelings,” says Timothy, a 40-year-old 
communications consultant. Subordinates are mortified when a female 
boss cries in their presence. To them, she should be firm, 
authoritative, intelligent and in control at all times. Suddenly, she 
has rested her head on her office desk. Something is troubling her. 
Nothing seems to help her overcome the anger but cry. Lots of women 
bosses have confessed to breaking down in tears at the work place. It 
may be job-related, domestic-related or any other issue that triggers 
off an emotional outburst. A local female human resource consultant, 
who prefers anonymity, recounts of an incident that made her cry in 
office: “It was in 1994 after I heard my diagnosis. I could not believe 
that the results had shown early signs of blood pressure. I couldn't 
stop crying. I cried on the way back to office and cried more when I 
got there. It was a Monday morning. Originally, I had planned to 
continue with my work from the clinic. But back at the office, I just 
kept on crying. I sobbed more when my colleague came to greet me. She 
must have been at a loss for words,” she narrates. Maggie Kigozi, the 
Executive Director of Uganda Investment Authority (UIA), says she cried 
in office because she was upset. “I had just started working with UIA,” 
she reveals, “I was so upset about some business negotiations we were 
handling, so I cried.” A 35-year-old female lecturer at Makerere 
University says she cried after a group of backbenchers ignored her 
plea to them to stop chatting in the lecture room. “I went into a 
series of reactions— numbness, disbelief, and anger at my students for 
not taking me seriously,” she says adding, “and then, before I could 
realise it, I was sobbing.” She says she could not go on teaching 
because the class booed her. “Why can't I say out my dilemma without 
crying?” she asks. She says she cries about any issue that deeply 
troubles her. “I should have been a little bit bolder in front of my 
class,” she says. Michelle Betz, an international press associate at 
Butare, University in Rwanda says: “Sometimes I have what I call a 
mini-breakdown at work.” “I may try hard not to cry, but all the same I 
save it for home.” A male marketing manager admits that he feels 
uncomfortable questioning women because they may begin crying. “I asked 
my deputy if she had followed up on something and why it didn't go 
right, and then she cried,” he says. Lots of women cry when they are 
disappointed. They cry when they get sad news, demanding jobs and fail 
to get promoted after working so hard. They also cry when they are 
ignored, undermined, taken advantage of or even misunderstood. Natural 
as it may seem for a woman to cry for a reason, with it comes a 
terrible distress about not wanting to cry. This seems to be as bad as 
the issue she is crying about. Is it a weakness? Crying may be a usual 
phenomenon, but the tears of a woman at work may be complex and 
difficult to comprehend. Why would a woman boss make a public display 
of such emotions having gone this far in her career? Can intense 
frustration and disappointment become too painful to make her break 
down into tears? How is it that a man and a woman can face an equally 
difficult situation, but only the woman ends up crying? Is it a woman's 
weakness? “Must be,” says Nicholas Muhumuza, a medical doctor. “I don't 
think a man would cry in case of anything. We usually shout at or punch 
someone to release the anger in the way, but without a sign of tears.” 
Julius Borore, a magistrate in Mbale, says women may not have the 
strength to control their emotions. “They do not measure up to men who 
can face the challenges without bursting into tears,” he says. Edith 
Mukisa, the programme director of Naguru Teenage and Information Health 
Centre, says it  not a weakness. She says naturally, an already 
stressed working woman, who is also a mother, would cry if hurt. “It's 
not easy to work as a mother and a boss. So incase of any vulnerability 
at the job, they would not hold back their tears. I don't think it's a 
flaw,” Mukisa says. Susan Muhwezi, a special presidential assistant on 
AGOA and Trade, says women by nature are compassionate. “It's not that 
we are too weak to handle pressure. Rather, I think we take whatever we 
do and face seriously. Where a man would punch someone out of anger, a 
lady may express her frustration by crying,” she says. Judith 
Owembabazi, the senior marketing and public relations officer of 
Housing Finance Company of Uganda Limited, also says a crying boss only 
expresses her sadness and fear in a way that a man would have handled 
with anger and stubbornness. “Crying is human nature and not a woman's 
weak spot,” she says. Some feel that tears are worth the pain they 
face. Diana Ndaba, a graduate, says the empathy of a woman must be seen 
by her teary eyes, because eyes are the door to her heart. “Crying 


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