Screechy, shouty and all trying to talk over the top of each other

They're trying to be noted...in the wrong way...

The women always fight against each other ,were as it seems a man thing to unite, even if they dislike each other in order to win the task

The female teams have a lot of very passive aggressive types; Selina, Elle and Aisha for example. They have to get their snide comments in even if it's not constructive. I think the male team have much less sneakiness.

Yes, it's strange. They also seem to lack a sense of humour in the edits we see, is that because women consider it unprofessional or even unfeminine ? Ruth is maybe the odd one out though, she does appear to have a refreshing sense of fun.

It does seem that way. They're all trying to be heard in the worst possible way. And some of them seem to think they're contributing just by being negative all the time, like Elle (I think that's her name - the morose one with the long black hair). Has she done or contributed anything yet apart from complain and say she doesn't agree with what others are suggesting?

Yes, the women appear desperate to make an impression immediately. Surely they've watched the programme before?...playing the long game is the best way to win.
Smile and get on with it, don't make enemies and don't show your hand too early.

It always makes me laugh when some women go on about how much better things would be in business with more women involved because women cooperate better with each other. They clearly have never watched the Apprentice. Women are no better behaved than men in competitive situations and sometimes worse behaved.

A great point was made on You're Fired that women are not used to working with each other in a business environment (in such a large capacity), while men have that experience.

Yes, I guess through sport men are likely to be more team orientated as well.

I thought the point was pretty much irrelevant.

What's the comparative level of experience between the male and female candidates on 'Apprentice'?

There always seems to be quite a few of the girls who want to be noticed in the first few weeks and get themselves known, whereas the boys seem more likely to take the approach of quietly getting through the first few weeks unnoticed so they won't be brought into the boardroom. Both strategies can be successful and risky. If you're too quiet you can be sacked for doing nothing, too loud you're an easy target to blame.

I find everyone annoying early on, the men talk more of the business jargon crap that really irks me, like Karen said it seemed the PM had swallowed a management textbook.

I do agree the women always seem far less fun, usually its a pack of sullen and dour faces on the women's team. Ruth the exception, maybe due to being the oldest and having some life experience that every minute of the day isn't the most serious time of her life.

I also liked Ruth trying to give Dan tips yesterday on selling rather than attack him or patronise him.

It's not the experience of being in a boardroom but with being with other high powered women when they are probably used to being the alpha female.

Maybe it's more down to who the show makers pick to be on the show?
They could quite probably pick a group of women who do act professionally, aren't full of ego, and who work well together if they wanted to.

Totally agree. They will also be the sort of people who are willing to give up a job just to be on tv in many cases.

I work in Investment banking and so work alongside and deal with a great deal of career minded, professional, driven women and I've never come across anyone even remotely like most of the cackling shrews that TA churns out every year.

Though many of them appear to be self employed so it may be that they genuinely aren't used to working in teams or taking instruction from someone else.

I wasn't just referring to the experience in the boardroom, but thoughout the whole task.

I'd also suggest that in the majority of cases, the male contestants are "used to being" the alpha male!

I am not, by the way, having a pop at women in general. In fact, the point I'm making (probably not very well!) is that the sort of people they tend to get on The Apprentice aren't representative of professionals in general, so excusing their behaviour by commenting on how other people act, or on how much experience other people get, is pretty irrelevant.

I tend to agree with Alrightmate in that it's probably more down to the choices made by the TV producers.

I think because women aren't usually "alpha's" they think by talking over people and taking "pot shots" at their fellow contestants, they can somehow become the "Alpha". Once the women start having men in the group, they're generally better, and usually by that stage the bitchy, useless ones have gone.

Males tend to respond better to the "Alpha" of the pack, and grow up with that sort of thing wired into their brain.

In the early stages men are better at playing the long game and concentrating on the team winning rather than feeling a need to sell them selves at the expense of the task.

In truth, you could level that accusation at most of the men. Richard aside, how many have had to run a team rather than serve as a sole trader or owning a business where they are clearly 'the boss'?

I'm not seeing any of the candidates as being particularly high-powered, with the possible exception of Richard. There are a few experienced people (e.g. Ruth) and some who are no doubt good budding entrepreneurs who may have experienced a degree of success already. But there's a world of difference between running your own small business and trying to manage the egos and personal agendas you see in the Apprentice environment.

In my job, I've worked both with and for several middle/senior female managers - our current UK MD is a woman. They are outnumbered, yes, but in many ways they are as adept if not more so than their male counterparts when it comes to ability, working company politics and getting things done. Equally, I have (occasionally) worked with women (and men) who make the average Apprentice candidate look mature.

Funnily enough, the real business world doesn't look much like The Apprentice ...

I remember seeing an interview with Miriam in Series 1 saying how relieved she was when the teams were mixed. She said she's worked on lots of all-women teams, and she hates it every time, because that's not representative of how things actually are in the business world. She seemed to work better with boys generally actually.

I remember that. It's a good observation. In business as in life, teams tend to work best when you have a good mix of people: whether that is male/female, introvert/extrovert, generalist/specialist etc. The teams that tend to be least effective are the ones where everyone has the same skill set or the same viewpoint. Either everyone clashes (because they all want to occupy the same role) or everyone immediately agrees (so there's no drive to find the best idea, only the obvious one) - neither is great for reaching the best possible result.

In this task it was kind of down to leadership. The men's TL had seemingly a grasp of the situation, and delegated succesfully. The women's TL (I can't be bothered with their names yet, too early lol) was divisive, didn't pick the best people for the tasks, and in the end she just came across as dictatorial. It was a good thin LS fired her, she brought in one person who actually contributed instead of the other 'background people' who just stand there doing nothing and whine the whole process.

You and George are right - it's a good mix of genders and personality types that make an ideal team.

And yet it's amazing how often a team leader (in either a real world or Apprentice environment) chooses to ally with someone who is "just like me"!