I've lived with several women through my life. There was a bit of extra drama, but I don't believe this was due to their gender, but rather the complexities of human relationships.

In university, I lived in a house with seven other guys. After my girlfriend and I broke up, she dropped out of school in the winter term and left town. This left her best friend stuck in a lease and short a roommate - so I moved in given my current arrangement really wasn't sustainable. It worked pretty well, though there were some awkward moments once she started hooking up with my best friend.

At the end of that summer we parted ways and moved elsewhere. I was just starting a new relationship and moved in with a young single mom in response to an ad. Her parents had helped her out by buying her a house to live in and renting out a room to help pay the mortgage. Rent was affordable, we had pretty distinct living areas, and I had my own bathroom. It worked out pretty great for a while. Unbeknownst to me, the woman I was living with and my new girlfriend were arch-enemies. So I ended up stuck in the middle of that drama. Near the end of the school year, her parents decided to up and renovate the place without notifying me, taking out my bathroom access in the process, and causing a major disruption during exams.

This turned out alright, as I had a group of friends who were short a roommate and the rent was cheaper; so we ended up terminating the lease amicably and I moved on.

In the new house, it was a handful of us guys and one woman. She enjoyed playing mother-hen for "her boys", and it actually worked out very well. Household duties were well organized, we shared many meals together and functioned like an odd sort of family.

Over time, the composition of the group changed a little and two new girls were added. Some factions started to form and things started to fall apart due to household politics. Two couples emerged from the mix of people. Things continued well enough until one of the girls quit smoking. The social aspect of smoking help bond several members of the house. Without that and the personality change arising from kicking the addiction things started to fall apart. I ended up moving out a bit before the end to live with a girlfriend.

Skipping ahead a few years, I was living with a new girlfriend. When that relationship ended, we were stuck near the end of the lease and I had to scramble to find a new place. I answered an ad on kijiji for a place with a female roomate.

This arrangement was pretty darn great to start - largely because we had a guy staying with us temporarily while he was studying to be a paramedic. Technically, this was in violation of the two person lease, but it worked out well. He had a small area of the basement, paid little in rent, but he took care of much of the housework.

These two roomies had unspoken crushes on each other, but were afraid to do anything about it because of the living situation. This was great for me as it kept everybody civil and the house clean. (They wanted to make good impressions) We had some great times together. After he left town to gain ambulance experience in another city, things went downhill from there. She was rather desolate and got very snippy. She stopped doing much in the way of housework and eventually I dialled back too. We ended up hiring her mom as a housekeeper which helped things a bit, but ultimately I moved out, buying my own place.

So the advice I would suggest taking away from my experiences is that it's good to not just be aware of how you hooking up with your roommates can affect your living arrangements, but also pay attention to other relationships can affect it for better or for for worse.