I can say from personal observation that the American General Officer/Flag Officer world is utterly ruthless. General Officers get tours cut short or forced retirement on a regular basis in all branches. However I smell a rat here. There are very few female General Officers in the US military and I wonder if there are other agendas at work here.
The one profound difference I see is that the tolerance for abusive leaders is much lower than it used to be, Most commands now require all ranks surveys of job satisfaction and commands have been cut short and careers stalled for senior personnel who were bad leaders.
As for women, I can echo a previous poster. Pretty much all of the women I have worked for and with in and out uniform have been very good, with 2 in particular who where outstanding, one who was hands down the best boss I ever had.