Introduction
This essay will examine the effect of the glass ceiling for women in management positions. The glass ceiling effect can be defined as barriers to advancement in a profession, affecting women, particularly for top management positions in this essay. It examines some specific barriers such as female role constraints and the importance of mentoring and other strategies for success. Furthermore, it will describe the methodology of the five examined articles and the significance of each. Women may be entering the labour force and management positions in greater numbers, however; research suggests that the issue of the glass ceiling effect is still prevalent to society today.
Barriers
There are various barriers that exist to the glass ceiling effect. This effect is disadvantageous to women for receiving top management positions and to progress further along the hierarchical structure. One of the key barriers was the ‘old boys’ network. This is an informal network in which men can use their position in the organization to help those of the same similar background. This network prevents women from receiving the same opportunities. Women are excluded from informal business discussions that occur such as playing golf with the boss. One middle-level manager said: “I am disadvantaged than my male peers because I am excluded from the ‘old boys’ network because I am a female.” This is a strong indicator of the significance of this network. (3) found that women are at an disadvantage because of the established political system and networks within the organization that consisted of men and excluded the women. (3) Another finding indicated that interpersonal/people skills are very valuable to establish good networks to be successful ...
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... women or minorities from succeeding further in the hierarchical structure of an organization. The essay examined the glass ceiling effect for women in management positions. As time has progressed and transformed the workforce, more women have not only entered the workforce but have been given management positions. However, the issue prevalent to society today is that women are not given the opportunity to senior executive positions due to these invisible barriers the glass ceiling effect presents. This essay identified a few major barriers such as female constraints and strategies such as mentoring. The essay then discussed the future of this issue and some possible solutions. Women may be entering the labour force and management positions in greater numbers, however; research suggests that the issue of the glass ceiling effect is still prevalent to society today.
The Glass Castle, a memoir written by Jeannette Walls is about a very peculiar family that worked together to overcome many obstacles that were thrown in their way. An alcoholic father and a free spirited mother leave four children to fend for themselves and find their own way through life. The Walls children are forced to find their own food and clothing and do everything in their power to protect one another.
My family isn 't like the Walls family because my parents would never treat my sister and I like their parents treated them, my family and I have a decent living situation, and we would never hurt any animal. From the beginning, Rex and Rose Mary treated their kids wrong and didn 't take responsibility as parents. Every child deserves a loving home and should never have to worry if they are going to eat that night. West Virginia also seemed a lot different then because the laws are more strict now. The way the Walls are, they would get in trouble for the way they treated their kids, animals, and even their living space. "Mom always said people worry too much about their children. Suffering when you 're young is good for you, she said. It immunized
The glass ceiling is defined as the “unseen, yet unbreachable barrier that keeps… women from rising to the upper rungs of the corporate ladder, regardless of their qualifications or achievements.” According to the Department of Labor, the glass ceiling is made up of “artificial barriers [that are] based on attitudinal or organizational bias that prevent qualified individuals from advancing upward in their organization into management-level positions.” Qualified women are continuously denied a promotion to the highest levels of corporate America and other professions. Once women reach a certain level at their career, they plateau and the glass ceiling prevents them from advancing any higher.
In February 2015, Ellen Pao’s lawsuit against Kleiner Perkins, a venture capital firm, for gender discrimination went on trial. Pao alleged that she had been treated unfairly by her ex-bosses and passed on numerous times for promotion in favor of her male counterparts. While Pao did not win her lawsuit, the trial brought back to light the problem of gender discrimination and of the glass ceiling in corporate America. Since women started to enter the workforce, there always have been barriers and obstacles that prevented them from reaching the higher ranks on the corporate ladder. Public recognition that there was indeed a problem of discrimination helped giving women assurance
This phenomenon was first described in a Wall Street Journal report by Hymowitz and Schellhardt (1986). Morrison, White and Velsor (1987) adopted the term in academic settings in their book titled: Breaking the Glass Ceiling: Can women Reach the top of America’s Largest Corporations? They defined glass ceiling as “a transparent barrier that kept women from rising above a certain level in corporations”. Many studies across different disciplines adopted the term since then (Bullard and Wright 1993; Cornwell and Kellough 1994; Crum and Naff 1997; Kellough 1989; Lewis and Emmert 1986; Lewis and Nice 1994; Mani 1997; Naff 1994; Naff and Thomas 1994; Newman 1994; Pfeffer and Davis-Blake 1987; Reid, Kerr, and Miller 2003; Wilson 2002). As a consequence, social psychologists provided the theoretical explanation of why there is fewer female on managerial positions. They came to the conclusion that this phenomenon is closely related to the fact that leadership is considered as a male quality. Traits that can be found in the literature, such as: ambitious, directive and risk-taking, are generally associated with men (Sabharwal, 2013). Moreover, there are some theories that try to expand the role of men in leadership even further. The “think-manager-thin-man” is undoubtedly dominating the literature (Agars
The "glass ceiling" has held women back from certain positions and opportunities in the workplace. Women are stereotyped as part-time, lower-grade workers with limited opportunities for training and advancement because of this "glass ceiling". How have women managed their careers when confronted by this glass ceiling? It has been difficult; American women have struggled for their role in society since 1848. Women’s roles have changed significantly throughout the past centuries because of their willingness and persistence. Women have contributed to the change pace of their role in the workplace by showing motivation and perseverance.
One of the most interesting properties of glass is that of it being able to bend and reflect light. Through the bending and reflecting of light rays, an image is created. What happens though when the image formed is not the focal point but rather is the source of the image, the glass itself? In the commencement of Dave Eggers’s novel ‘The Circle,’ there is recurring images of glass. The lustrous, pristine, and progressive visage that glass supplies encapsulated the Company’s essence of high quality and rapid advancement, and as such comprised most of the physical structure of the building. However, the high-end aesthetic that glass provides is not the only idea that Eggers is attempting to promulgate through the glass images. The less obvious
The boundary between turbulence and order, a zone said to have no rules, like the Walls family. They didn’t live life like everyone else, there were no set rules they made or followed, and for the most part, the Walls family didn’t even follow the law. The Walls children’s life was built upon not having their parents tell them what to do and what not to do. Throughout the memoir, The Glass Castle, Jeannette endured many situations where she and her family are either pushing the boundary or are more on one side of it. Put simply, the Walls family epitomizes the line that separates chaos and control.
The “glass ceiling” is a barrier to advancement that affects women when they work in
Also, the majority of women have been able to secure employment from traditionally female occupations such as teaching compared to male-dominated careers like engineering. Moreover, democratic country like the United States of America has recognized gender inequality as a fundamental issue and espouse equal right between men and women in contributing to social, economic and cultural life. Despite this improvement, gender inequality persists as women are not represented and treated equally in the workplace (Michialidis, Morphitou, & Theophylatou, 2012). The increasing number of women in the workplace has not provided equal opportunity for career advancement for females due to the way women are treated in an organization and the society. Also, attaining an executive position seem impossible for women due to the glass ceiling effects which defines the invisible and artificial barrier created by attitudinal and organizational prejudices, which inhibit women from attaining top executive positions (Wirth
Through the course of history, women have accomplished many feats surpassing stereotypes of being only useful for their vanity. The scholar Chisholm-Burns states that “it is clear that gender bias remains a challenge for women in the workplace, particularly as they try to move up the career ladder” (312). Society has made it hard, but not impossible, for women to accomplish certain goals. Burns continues by giving an explanation of the term “glass ceiling”, which is another form of discrimination towards women. “Glass
Women face an unofficial barrier called the glass ceiling, which limits how high a women can advance in a profession. “Women holding the titles of chairman, CEO, COO (chief operating officer), and executive vice president remain at about 7 percent of the population of executives in the United States” (Hoobler, Wayne, & Lemmon, 2009). Women seem to have more of a family-work conflict then men, so bosses don’t seem to have as much desire, to promote females compared to men (Hoobler, Wayne, & Lemmon 939-940). Men still view women as having a social role, examples are cooking, childcare, and household chores. Men feel threatened, and scared when females are able to handle both work and their personal life. Excuses are created by men, where they believe females should focus on one role, because they won’t be able to accomplish family roles and work roles efficiently. Women can help themselves with this issue of family-work conflict, by, improving communication with their employers. Women can communicate to their employer, by explaining and clarifying their expectations on how much workload they can
For many decades, women have faced inequalities in the workforce. At one point, they were not allowed to work at all. Although women's rights have improved and are now able to work alongside men, they are still treated unfairly. According to the 2012 U.S. Census, women’s earnings were “76.5 percent of men’s” (1). In 2012, men, on average, earned $47,398 and women earned only $35,791. This is when comparing employees where both gender spend the same amount of time working. Not only do women encounter unfairness in work pay, they also face a “glass ceiling” on a promotional basis. This glass ceiling is a “promotion barrier that prevents woman’s upward ability” (2). For example, if a woman is able to enter a job traditionally for men, she will still not receive the same pay or experience the same increase in occupational ability. Gender typing plays a huge role in the workplace. It is the idea that women tend to hold jobs that are low paid with low status. Women are not highly considered in leadership positions because of social construction of gender. Society has given women the role of “caretakers” and sensitive individuals. Therefore, women are not depicted as authoritative figures, which is apparent with the absence of women in leadership roles in companies. Furthermore, sex segregation leads to occupations with either the emphasis of women in a certain job or men in a certain job. In 2009, occupations with the highest proportion of women included “secretary, child care worker, hair dresser, cashier, bookkeeper, etc.” (3). Male workers typically held job positions as construction workers, truck drivers, taxi drivers, etc. (3). Sex segregation represents inequality because the gender composition for these jobs depends on what ...
Jones states in his Gallup news article entitled Americans Say Equal Pay Top Issue for Working Women, (Jones, 2014) that the data from a September 2014 Gallup poll shows that two of the most important issues facing working women in this country today are equal/fair pay and equal opportunity for advancement and promotion. These concerns placed higher than the issues of better childcare and healthcare and the economy in general. The number of working women in the United States is almost equal to that of men, however the challenges women face in establishing careers and advancing in them is different from men. The EEOC Women 's Work Group issued a report (EEOC Women 's Work Group, 2010) that cites many of the biggest challenges for women seeking equal opportunities in the workplace. These include lack of mentoring and grooming for management positions, being less likely to be invited to networking events, women not being granted training and developmental assignments on as equal footing as men, and women not being targeted in recruitment efforts for upper level and management positions. In order to combat these discriminatory practices, employers should develop mentoring programs and monitor their effectiveness, actively making sure that women are as equally included as men. Senior level officials should be expected to mentor subordinates and that mentoring should not be gender biased. Businesses should perform a barrier analysis to discover what obstacles
. Explain the looking glass theory and self-concept as they pertain to Shrek, Donkey, Princess Fiona, and Prince Farquar. Your answer needs to address the components of self. In your answer, include how self-concept affects the way that they communicate. Remember that communication includes cognitive, listening and speaking processes.