The study carried out by linguistics expert Judith Baxter from Aston University, Birmingham found that more than 80 per cent of quips made by senior female figures were met with silence, with 70 per cent portraying themselves in a modestly negative light.
It also found that women bosses are more likely to use self-deprecation as humour, with their attempts at cracking jokes, but they are often viewed as 'contrived, defensives or just mean', the Daily Telegraph reported.
However, in comparison, 90 per cent of jokes made by men were found to achieve a positive response, with an immediate outburst of laughter or approval.
As a result, men are found to be more than three times more likely to make jokes while leading a meeting than their female counterparts.
For the study, Dr Baxter spent 18 months studying the speech pattern of employees at seven large companies, including two in the FTSE 100.
Of the 600,0000 words used across 14
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