The Glass Ceiling

Women are considered a minority group, because they do not share the same power, privileges, rights, and opportunities as men. The term "glass ceiling" refers to institutional barriers that prevent minorities and women from advancing beyond a certain point in the corporate world, despite their qualifications and successes. The existence of a glass ceiling indicates that women, even today, do not enjoy the same economic opportunities as men. Throughout the past two centuries, there is a recurring pattern of unequal economic rights for women as well as discrimination. These actions that burden women bring on a psychological effect such as oppression. The constant battle women face with an unequal economic opportunity contributes to their feeling

Since the early 1800s, women in higher education have been battling to overcome barriers to gain access to education, and equal career opportunities. Research posits that women have made significant progress through government legislations during the 1960s and 1970s, which eradicated some of the barriers of gender inequality. The research also supports that women are moving the needle in educational attainment and employment in higher education as students, faculty members and senior-level administrators. However, recent data suggest that there is still work to do to increase the number of women in leadership roles. Especially black women in higher education.

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.

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.

Education has always been valued in the African American community. During slavery freed slaves and those held captive, organized to educate themselves. After emancipation the value of education became even more important to ex-slaves, as it was their emblem of freedom and a means to full participation in American Society (Newby & Tyack, 1971). During this time many schools for African Americans were both founded and maintained by African Americans. African Americans continued to provide education throughout their own communities well into the 1930’s (Green, McIntosh, Cook-Morales, & Robinson-Zanartu, 2005). The atmosphere of these schools resembled a family. The

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

In 1834, Oberlin College in Oberlin, Ohio was the only institution that did not discriminate in the admission of students due to race or sex (Watson, 1977). This institution admitted four young women into a core curriculum, allowing for Oberlin College to be the first co-educational school of higher education in the country (Watson, 1977). Although the opportunity existed for women to enter the doors of higher education, enrollment in the college did not guarantee equality. Women who enrolled in the college had very limited social freedom, could only enroll in specific majors, and were not given the same level of consideration and respect as their male counter parts (Watson, 1977). Women were limited to studying fields such as education. Professions such as medicine, law, and religion

When women started their careers, the barrier prevented them attaining equality with men later on. The expression “the glass ceiling” first appeared in the Wall Street Journal in 1986. The term the glass ceiling was later used in an academic article. The article looked at the persistent failure of women to climb as far up the corporate ladder as might be expected from their representation in the working population as a whole. The article helped explain the fact that in large corporations in Europe and North America women rarely came to account for more than 10% of senior executives and 4% of CEOs and chairmen. (The Economist: The Glass Ceiling,

During the research study potential participants will be given a questionnaire. The purpose of this questionnaire is to assess the participant’s positions regarding whether or not a glass ceiling exists in the political sector. A clear and precise definition of the “glass ceiling” will be briefly described at the top of the survey, before the questions begin. Glass Ceiling definition is as follows: “an upper limit to professional advancement, especially as imposed upon women, that is not readily perceived or openly

Gender roles are socially constructed rules that dictate the types of acceptable behaviors based on sex. In modern society, gender roles continue to hinder the progress of equality between a man and a woman. A man and woman’s acceptable role in a 1960s American society is clearly portrayed in the episode of Smoke Gets in Your Eyes (2007), written by Matthew Wieners, of the series Mad Men. The episode illustrates the concepts of the glass ceiling and glass escalator, and how these concepts affect home and work life for two women: Peggy Olson, one who plays by her gender role, and Rachel Menken, one who breaks free of her gender role.

I think it is so important for the glass ceiling to shatter. I agree with you that things like greed, ignorance or lack of willingness for change could affect how soon the ceiling will be broken. I was shopping at the store the other day and this guy was shopping with his wife, we were talking about how cute the little girl's clothes were. He then goes it's scary that there might be a female president. I just stopped what I was doing and stared at him in disbelief that he would say that aloud. I think it is viewpoints like this that cause the glass ceiling to still be in place. Even in 2016, there are still people that think women shouldn't be equal and that is

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, Break the Glass Ceiling Foundation, who stands for equal opportunity for women and minorities, have done extensive research on the glass ceiling barrier. They have determined that the glass ceiling can appear in many forms. The first form is the lack of management commitment to establish systems, policies, and practices for achieving workplace diversity and upward mobility. This form means that women are unable to move up in the business due to a lack of upward mobility. Women are able to be promoted past a certain position. Not only is the business form of workplace affected by this barrier, but there also exist the barrier in the government department. Toussaint proves this statement by the fact that "only forty women have served on the highest court of thirty states and only five have presided over their state's court as chief justice. Only 5.4 percent of all federal judges were women at the time of Sandra Day O'Connor's appointment."

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