glass ceiling

What is the Glass Ceiling

The term glass ceiling refers to situations where the advancement of a person within the hierarchy of an organization is limited. This is usually ascribed to some form of discrimination, most commonly sexism and racism.

This situation is referred to as a "ceiling" as there is a limitation blocking upward advancement, and "glass" (transparent) because the limitation is not immediately apparent and is normally an unwritten and unofficial policy. The "glass ceiling" is distinguished from formal barriers to advancement, such as education or experience requirements.

The term has been thought to have first been used to refer to invisible barriers that impede the career advancement of women in the American workforce in an article by Carol Hymowitz and Timothy Schellhardt in the March 24th edition of the Wall Street Journal in 1986.^[1] However, the term was used prior to that; for instance, it was utilized in a March 1984 Adweek article by Gay Bryant.

Throughout the years barriers such as stereotyping and bias have kept a diverse workforce from emerging in the business world. These stereotypes have been associated with false truths in the minds of society reinforcing these glass ceilings.

Sex discrimination was outlawed in 1964 through the Civil Rights Act in the hopes of allowing women to rise in the working world once proper experience has been achieved. This created numerous barriers for women with the necessary experience to obtain higher positions, thus constructing today’s glass ceiling.

Consequences of Excluding Women

Women have been proven to be more than qualified to hold top management positions in corporate businesses. By excluding women in the business world, the abilities of our society have been considered as not being as fully actualized as it could be, because of the lack of voice of half the population. In today’s business world, women are a integral part of success and contribute to the diversity of the workforce. Women in the higher ranks are aiding the competition for a workforce that is better equipped to deal with clients of both genders. Companies that choose to eliminate the presence of highly educated women may be losing a tremendous amount of creativity and a broader target market. Women may feel that if they cannot rise in a “man’s business” then they will look to advance themselves in other places or even start their own entities in order to accomplish goals and feel a sense of self-realization.

Breaking through ‘The Glass Ceiling’

A senior VP at Patterson-- Smith Associates explains that women have succeeded in becoming prosperous agents, due to the fact that “they're more detail-oriented, more relationship-oriented and they relate well to clients.” ^[2]. Women are notoriously known for more outward expression of their emotions. This can be utilized to help maintain visibility in the business world. Since women can be naturally good communicators and social networkers, it is vital to use these type of abilities in business. Networking is one of the most important ways to maintain relationships with individuals and make progress inside a company.

Image:Glassceiling.jpg

Variations?

• Bamboo Ceiling - The exclusion of Asian-Americans from executive and managerial roles on the basis of subjective factors such as "lack of leadership potential" or "inferior communication ability" where the Asian-American candidate has superior objective credentials.
• Glass elevator (or glass escalator) - The rapid promotion of men over women, especially into management, in female-dominated fields such as nursing.
• Glass cliff - A situation wherein someone has been promoted into a risky, difficult job where the chances of failure are higher.
• Celluloid ceiling, referring to the small number of women in top positions in Hollywood, as documented by Lauzen (2002) and others.

Other uses of term

Canadian indie rock band Metric wrote a song called "Glass Ceiling" on their 2005 album Live It Out, which is a reference to this type of situation.

The effect has also inspired a musical, bearing the same name. "Glass Ceiling" (2006), written by Bret VandenBos and Alex Krall, examined and parodied the idiosyncrasies of both males and females in the corporate workplace.^[3]

See also

• Stained-glass ceiling
• Equal pay for women
• Sexism
• Feminism
• Feminization of poverty
• Equality
• Gender role
• Employment
• Glass cliff
• Masculism
• Racism

Footnotes

1. ^ Baker & Lightle, Cracks in the glass ceiling: An analysis of gender equity in the federal government auditing career field (2001), 18-26 [1]
2. ^ C. McDonald, Women agents say they are breaking the glass ceiling(2001), 45 [2]
3. ^ Mays, Andy (July 2006). NCA Cappies Album for "Glass Ceiling". Cappies. Retrieved on 2007-04-19.

External links

• Dealing with the Glass Ceiling

• Celluloid Ceiling: Behind-the-Scenes Employment of Women on the Top 250 Films of 2006 at Movies by Women
• Report of the Glass Ceiling Commission (PDF format)
• Read Congressional Research Service (CRS) Reports regarding Pay Equity

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