Pushing the Glass Ceiling

In the United States, study after study continues to show that women have fewer opportunities to advance in the workplace than men. These disadvantages are a result of society’s views of women in leadership positions and how women may view themselves in these roles. Women have been making progress in terms of equality in pay and job positions, but significant gaps remain. Women who strive to be promoted into higher levels of responsibility in their companies often meet resistance that prevents them from achieving the goal of a senior or executive level of management. This barrier is referred to as the “glass ceiling” and it is a controversial issue in our country today. The glass ceiling called this because women are able to see the higher level positions, but can reach them because of an intangible barrier. One can look at the Fortune 500 companies, which are the most successful companies in the U.S. in terms of revenue to see how few women are in leadership positions. Clearly, women are significantly underrepresented in these companies, as less than 5 percent of these companies have female chief executive officers (CEO) today (Dockterman 105). Providing the opportunity for women to move into management positions, like CEOs, would bring a unique talent and a new perspective on how the company can operate to perform better (Buckalew 147). The “glass ceiling” is a real obstacle that creates an intangible barrier that puts women at a disadvantage in advancing in a company.

In Sarah Bianchi-Sand’s article, she details the “glass ceiling,” or an unofficial boundary that prevents women and minorities alike from reaching their highest potential. Her work is meant to persuade readers that the glass ceiling isn't a myth, but a real and serious problem. Being the Chair and Executive Director of the National Committee on Pay Equity, Sarah has plenty of reason for wanting to persuade this topic. Her thesis effectively starts this process by laying out what is happening. “This theory is circulating widely among the press-perhaps because it is controversial and contradicts what has become rather boring to the media-but what remains are the real-life experiences of women and people of color- no real change in the wage gap and no improvement in the glass ceiling (Bianchi-Sand p.306). This thesis opens the door for Sarah to talk about and persuade her readers that the glass ceiling is no myth. By using ethos, pathos, and logos our Author persuades her readers that the glass ceiling is hurting business but can be raised.

In the business world, it’s all about being assertive. The people who get the highest ranks are the most assertive in their occupation, but for women there seems to be a “catch 22” in their assertiveness. Assertive women in the workplace are often viewed as rude or pushy, therefore making it harder for them to move up in the high ranks of the company. However, if a woman is not assertive enough then the business might think she is not committed to the job she is doing. There is also a “glass ceiling” put in place for many women. A “glass ceiling” is a goal that one would think can be achieved but really it is an unattainable goal due to policies or corporate culture. Many women feel the impact of the glass ceilings as they start climbing the business ladder.

Meanwhile, the segregation of jobs by gender and other factors affect pay equity. A term used back in the 1980’s as a metaphor for the invisible and artificial barriers that blocked women and minorities from advancing up the corporate ladder to management and executive positions is called the glass ceiling (Hill, 2013). Louisville Women’s Careers Examiner argues “ Glass ceilings are still found in the workplaces, not only in the discrimination of pay scales, but also marked by sexual harassment, exploitation at work and as a feeling of insecurity in women due to conduct of the opposite sex” (Hill, 2013, p.33). Societal barriers that women tend to face are prejudice and bias, cultural, opportunity and attainment, gender, and color-based differences. Moreover, several other barriers women run into are governmental, business structural and internal businesses all of which have ramifications on their chances of success.

The “Glass Ceiling” is known as an invisible barrier that stops someone from gaining more success. In this case it deals with women in the workplace, not being able to move up in a company. Even though no one knows who started the phrase, “A widely read Wall Street Journal story in 1986 popularized the term”(Napikoski). The “Glass Ceiling” has played a big role in women not being able to be

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.

Gender plays a huge role in workplace 'success' and can be a big challenge especially if the employee is a woman in a male dominated workplace or career. No matter how 'hard-nosed,' 'ruthless,' 'workaholic' a woman may be, or how much personal success she achieves, there will always tend to be some type of obstacle to keep her from getting completely to the top of the corporate ladder. She must also still fight stereotypes that undermines her confidence or limits her potential. Since the early 20th century, women and minorities have sought equal opportunities in education and in the labor force with little success. These obstacles or barriers are all known as the glass ceiling.

The glass ceiling first came about in the 1986. The term was first published in the “Wall Street Journal”, in an article questioning whether women are capable of breaking the glass ceiling. In the beginning the

The Glass Ceiling A Glass Ceiling has only ever been loosely outlined, but Jone Lewis (2011) describes it as “an invisible upper limit in corporations and other organizations, above which it is difficult or impossible for women to rise in the ranks” this demonstrates the inequality exercised in the workplace and experienced by women daily, this is reinstated with statement “the existence of a glass ceiling would imply that women’s careers prospects fall behind those of men.” (Travers, 2008 ).

Women trying to break the glass ceiling has been very challenging for many years, despite their many achievements that have gone unnoticed and have been swept under the rug. Fortunately, history has a way of reveling its truth, and women’s accomplishments are slowly but surely finally coming to light. Regardless of the fact that there have been far more male presidents, that does not declare men as superior beings to women. Yes, we are living in a patriarchal world, but women are breaking done barriers now more than ever. They are letting their voices be heard and standing up to gender inequality, they are becoming CEO’s, they are tech savvy, and more importantly, they are leaders in their own unique way. Women have been fighting to get the recognition that they rightfully deserved even to this day, and their commitment

The glass ceiling is responsible for women and minorities not being able to achieve what they are capable of. A glass ceiling is an invisible barrier. For many of the years, women were not put in jobs that require top executives such as management and that is why many of them have not accumulated the

The term glass ceiling was coined more than twenty years ago by the Wall Street Journal to describe the barriers that women face at workplace. The word ‘ceiling’ suggest that women are blocked from advancing their career while the term ‘glass’ is used because the ceiling does not always visible. Women might work as hard as men do but they only earn about seventy-five per-cent of the men’s income though they might be of the same seniority, experience as well as education level. The earning differential is due to the traditional responsibility for family and childcare tasks assigned by the society towards women. This is because the society still assumes the high-paying professions as masculine and feminine women could not fit the requirements of holding the position and they better do a more nurturing job. This typical thinking causes men to be numerically dominant in almost all area like in key global and national decision-making position such as international organisations, governments, and as well as the board of CEOs and directors of private enterprises. As an example, rarely are women seen to sit in the parliament seat or hold the superior position in a government party. Take the case of our own Datuk Ng Yen Yen who did not succeed in her bid for the MCA’s vice presidency in October 2008. She challenged the tradition within the male-dominated party but then her failure indicates the hesitance of the

The “Glass Ceiling” is the term giving to the invisible obstacles sometimes found in the workforce. The barriers that limit women’s and minorities progress toward employment equity extend from the glass ceiling at the top of corporations to the floor of low paying jobs in the labor market. These barriers are created by a process at exclusion that continuously eliminates women, minorities, and other underprivileged groups from being candidates of higher positions. When a company exercises this type of discrimination, they look for the most defensible explanation they can find to make this behavior seem acceptable. The “glass ceiling” is still very much a part of the corporate world today as it was many years ago. This is evident by the

The glass ceiling starts to form itself very early on. From the moment a woman enters the work force after college, she is faced with much discrimination and unjust belief that she will not be able to do as well of a job than a man. A man and a woman, who both have the same education and training for a job, will have a considerable gap in their yearly income. In a first year job, a man will make approximately $14,619 compared to a woman who will make only $12,201. That is a pay gap of 17%(Gender Pay 1). There is no reason why there should be any gap in their incomes during the first year of their jobs. They have both had the same formal education and both have the same qualifications necessary for the job, yet

This power issue between men and women takes a major role in today's workforce. All legitimate companies make it clear that they are all equal opportunity employers. Sure, they can all say it, but that doesn't make it necessarily true. And let's say that they do hire an equal amount of men and women based on personal merit, what happens inside the corporation. Are all the cards evenly dealt? I highly doubt that possibility. Here in lies the problem we've all come to call the "glass-ceiling barrier". It's basically explained as an invisible barrier that prevents women from rising to positions of power. But why is it invisible? We all know that it's there, but there's nothing in the rule book that clearly states the existence of such a barrier.