The definition “The Glass Ceiling” refers to an invisible barrier that limits the level to which a woman or another member of a demographic minority can advance within the hierarchy in an organization. It often is a barrier that confronts Ethnic Americans in addition to women when trying to reach upper management levels in many companies. In most cases the limitations are not immediately apparent, moreover, is normally an unwritten and unofficial policy. The “Glass Ceiling” is distinguished from formal barriers to advancement, such as education or experience requirements.
Rene Redwood worked with Secretary of Labor Robert Reich during the Clinton Administration as his Special Assistant; furthermore, she was the executive director for the Glass Ceiling Commission and Greenburg-Lake.
In 1991 The Glass Ceiling Commission was established and the U.S. Department of Labor defined “those artificial barriers based on attitudinal or organizational bias that prevent qualified individuals from advancing upward in their organization into management-level positions” as Glass Ceiling. The limitation is normally based upon some form of discrimination, most often being sexism. During 1991 to 1996 the department’s Glass Ceiling Commission studied how these barriers, not only as they apply to women, but to minorities as well.
The Federal Glass Ceiling Commission found that 97% of the senior managers of the Fortune 1000 Industrial and Fortune 500 are white, and 95-97% are male, furthermore, this occurring while 57% of the workforce are Ethnic minorities, woman, or both. Moreover, the study also found that African, Hispanic (Latino), and Asian Americans each holding comparable positions do not earn equal pay, in addition, African Americans earn an astonishing 21% less while performing the same jobs as their counterparts who are White.
Not only are there 60 million working women in America, and they make up more than 45 percent of the U.S. work force, women and minorities are two-thirds of the entire population, composed by two-thirds of our consumers and a total of 57 percent of the world’s labor force, furthermore, projections indicate this number is on the rise.
The Glass Ceiling Commission and the work they accomplish cannot be separated from the ongoing public discussion about affirmative action, equal opportunity, and diversity. One of the statements made by the Glass Ceiling Commission is that “We are in motion, and the world has changed.”
The Glass Ceiling research reveals that 70% of all women, regardless of their racial and ethnic groups are most likely to work in the service industries and in finance, real estate wholesale and retail trade.
Industries where change is taking place, for example deregulation and restructuring such as telecommunications or fast growing industries such as business services in addition to female intensive work forces such as finance, real estate and human resources, offer women and minorities the greatest opportunity for advancement.
Perpetuating a cycle of unfulfilled aspirations among women and people of color is a society who is not yet color blind or gender blind. The fact is that sexism, racism, and chauvinism attribute to unemployment, underemployment and poverty.
Surveys show that between 1982 and 1992, the number of women holding the title of executive vice president rose from 4 to 9 percent as well as those holding the title of senior vice president rose from 13 to 23 percent, an indication that the cracks are beginning to appear in the infamous “Glass Ceiling” and women are moving up the corporate ladder.
In a recent study done by Catalyst shows a growth of women on the board of directors of the Fortune 500 companies. There are now 404 or eighty-one percent that have one or more female directors, although, there are still only two women CEO’s there are steady increases, as 1 in 10 women hold board seats.
There are now 30 companies in the Fortune 500 breaking the Glass Ceiling and offering many board seats as well as executive and vice president positions.
These companies are as follows:
Aetna Inc., Allstate Insurance company, American Express Company, Bon Secours Richmond Health Service, Gristol-Myers Squibb Company, Colgate-Palmolive Company, DuPont, Federated Department Stores, Inc., Ganett Co., Inc., Gap Inc., General Mills, Hewlitt-Packard Company, IBM Corporation, Inova Health System, Knight Ridder, Liz Claiborne, Inc., Mariott International, Inc., Merck & Co., Inc., MetLife, Inc., New York Life Insurance Company, Principal Financial group, Sallie Mae, Scholastic, Texas Instruments Incorporated, The New York Times Company, The Phoenix Companies, Inc., The Procter & Gamble Company, WellPoint, Inc., Xerox Corporation, and Yale-New Haven Hospital.
Even though, surveys have shown progress it does not indicate how large the gap is in the salaries between men and women performing the same jobs, a difference of as much as $102,000 in annual compensation. The US Census data reported the ration of female to male earnings in management jobs ranged from a low of 50 percent in the banking industry to a high of 85 percent for human services managers.
Having Equal education does not guarantee fair compensation, regardless of credentials and preparedness, income and compensation continues to be unequal. All women continue to have considerable lower incomes compared to their male counterparts, and most minority men earn less than non-Hispanic white men with the same education at the same occupational level. It is the wage discrimination or the unequal pay is a practical indicator that the Glass Ceilings are still in existence.
Why does this inconsistency continue? It’s not because women and minorities are not prepared. The number of women holding bachelor and post-graduate degrees has steadily increased. There are more and more postgraduate degrees are in the field of business management and law. These credentials are now considered prerequisites for senior management positions. Despite identical education degrees, ambition, and commitment to their career, women still fall short and men are being promoted at a much faster rate.
What’s really going on here is more a matter of perception than statistical fact. The majority of CEO’s who participated in a survey conducted for the Commission believed that women – white and non-white – no longer confront serious Glass Ceiling problems. In 1990, financial Women International surveyed male CEO’s and female vice presidents on the existence of a Glass Ceiling. 73 percent of the male CEO’s did not think there was a ceiling, 71 percent of the women did.
The underlying cause, research suggests that the existence of the Glass Ceiling is ultimately the perception of many white males that they as a group are losing, they believe that they are losing their competitive advantage, losing control, and losing opportunity as a direct consequence of inclusion of women and minorities in upper management positions.
What are the types of barriers that prevent the advancement of qualified minorities and women? The Glass Ceiling Commission identified three levels.
They are:
1.Societal barriers, which include a supply barrier related to educational opportunities and the level of job attainment for women competing for he same jobs as there men counterparts.
2.There is also a “difference” barrier manifested through conscious and unconscious stereotyping and bias, such as women should be secretaries or childcare givers etc. It translates into a syndrome that people who do the hiring feel most comfortable “hiring people who look like them, therefore if men are hiring they are most likely to hire men. Stereotypes must be confronted with hard data because, if left undisputed, they continue to become a reality in many industries and reinforce glass-ceiling barriers.
3.Governmental barriers include the collection and distribution of employment related data, which make it difficult to establish the status of various groups at the managerial level. Also, there continues to be inadequate reporting and propagation of information relevant to Glass Ceiling issue. More importantly, there needs to be vigorous and consistent monitoring and enforcement of laws and policies already in place to help prevent and encourage these invisible barriers in the workplace to dissolve, not only by promoting equality in the upper management positions obtained but to support and narrow the gap in income between men, women and minorities.
So what can be done about the Glass Ceiling?
1.Realize that you cannot be equal – you must be better than your competition for promotions. Although this sounds unfair, it is reality. If you are going to make a solid case for being promoted, it must be a clear case.
2.Recognize your company’s philosophy. If your company’s senior management and Board of Directors have no Ethnic minorities or women, this is a bad sign.
3.Don’t waste your time. Look to advance your career with a company that values workforce diversity and eliminating the Glass Ceiling. Companies that don’t adopt this philosophy will continually see good people leave and they will eventually come to the realization that they must change.
4.If you have a lot invested, stay and fight. Unequal pay and consideration for promotions is discrimination under the Civil Rights Act.
The bottom line is that it is discrimination, no matter how you interpret it; the Glass Ceiling is only one manifestation of the continual struggle for equal employment status and equal opportunity in our country. This artificial barrier known as the “Glass Ceiling” must be cracked and broken away if we are to have a true equality and opportunity in industries in America.
Bibliography:
(2005). Glass ceiling. Retrieved April 20, 2007, from Glass ceiling – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Web site: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glass_ceiling
(2006). 30 Companies braeking the glass ceiling. Retrieved April 20, 2007, from 30 companies breaking the glass ceiling Web site: http://womensissues.about.com/od/womenatwork/a/NAFE30.htm
Redwood, Rene (1996, October 2). The glass ceiling. Retrieved April 20, 2007, from The glass ceiling by Rene Redwood – Human & Civil Rights / In Motion Magazine Web site: http://www.inmotionmagazine.com/glass.html
(2000). The glass ceiling for African, Hispanic (Latino), and Asian Americans. Retrieved April 20, 2007, from The glass ceiling for African, Hispanic, and Asian Americans Web site: http://ethnicmajority.com/glass_ceiling.htm
