If you asked workers six decades ago if they had a preference on their boss's gender, most would tell you they wanted a man. Maybe not surprisingly, that's still true today, even though the statistics have improved some.

Yet a recent Gallup poll shows a preference for a male leader is even higher among women than men. Of the 1,032 American adults surveyed, 39 percent of women said they wanted a male boss, while only 26 percent of men said so.

Overall, only 20 percent of those surveyed overall said they'd prefer a female boss, while 33 percent said they'd prefer a male boss. To be fair, 46 percent of workers had no preference.

Yet it still begs the question: Why do so many women have a problem with a boss of the same gender?

Could it be that many workers are just used to males being in charge? After all, gender ratios of who's in charge are already skewed — the same Gallup survey indicates that 51 percent of working Americans have a male boss, compared to 33 percent with a female boss.

Antonella Pianalto, executive director of the Association of Women Business Centers, said she's seen it firsthand — more men than women have been in leadership positions at most places she's worked.

But it's not all doom and gloom. Women CEOs of Fortune 500 companies are at an all-time high (the good news), according to Fortune. But that "high" is 4.8 percent (the bad news).

So clearly there's some room for improvement, Pianalto said, proposing at least some of the issue is rooted in longheld gender biases that favor men.

"There are more women today in the workplace in leadership roles, and the more that that is going to happen, you're going to see the preference changing," she said, pointing to another part of the Gallup study that found those who already had a female boss were more likely to prefer one.

After all, a balance of power is good for businesses, said Lindsey Mask, founder of Ladies America, a national network that works to connect and advance professional women.

"The reality is that men and women are different," she said. "How we process information is different, how we handle stress is different. It only makes sense for American companies to have a balance in leadership."

But at least in the short term, changing women's preference for a female versus male boss may not be so easy.

Mask suggests it could come down to simply finding out why some women hold this preference, and equipping the women in power with the tools they need to be successful from there.

"Why do they feel that way?" she said. "Maybe it's the way they hold a meeting. What is it's that different?"

But, Pianalto said, the ultimate goal should be to make it not about gender at all — that workers in the future can say a man or woman would do the job equally well.

"What we want is equality and more people with no preferences; it doesn't matter to them.”