Abstract
This study looks at the glass ceiling by examining three specific research questions. The questions look at the definition of the glass ceiling, its effects as well as how it can be broken. This part of the research contains a comprehensive literature review of some of the sources to be used. The literature review only includes sources from current peer-reviewed journal articles. The literature review reveals the fact that the glass ceiling is still in place in the current workplace and has various effects. The effects stem from factors such as unequal pay for the same job and lack of promotion among women. However, the effects of the glass ceiling effect can be addressed through various factors such as promoting diversity, education as well as promotion of women at the workplace. It is expected that the research will contribute significantly to existing literature on the subject of glass ceiling and how to deal with its effects.
Introduction
Women have long been at a disadvantage in the workplace. From unequal treatment to poor salaries relative to men, the playing field just has not been level. Add to this the reality that many occupations have a glass ceiling for women that seemingly cannot be frustrated, and promotion and advancement opportunities have been limited. This glass ceiling effect has had a negative overall impact on society due to the conflict that has resulted. From Marissa Mayer's ascent to big enchilada at Yahoo! to Sheryl Sandberg's nearly watched administration at Facebook, ladies tech administrators make a significant mix in Silicon Valley. For a few, the ascent of a female pioneer – particularly in a male-ruled field – appears to tip the scale in support correspondence. Others stress that these hotshot ladies make the unfair limitation appear to be more impervious to those with less assets or associations.
Literature Review
The glass ceiling effect refers to a situation facing women in corporate organizations that is not easy to recognize but which hinders women’ career development and which prevents both women and minorities in corporates from climbing the managerial hierarchy . The glass ceiling effect can also refer to all barriers which hinder the development of the career woman at their place of work .
Women make up to 50% of the work force in the United States. However, less than 15% corporate offices are taken by women and these women take up for less than 5% of positions as Chief executive Officers (CEO) . A study conducted on the number of women allowed into medical schools 50 years ago shows that the number of female students was way less as compared to that of their male counterparts . A more alarming fact is that of the few women who graduated from the medicals schools only a few of them were allowed into specialties in the surgery room such as anesthesiology, gynecology and surgery.
Women are also associated with corporate roles which are considered to be less demanding such as publication relations officers since they are considered to be more flexible especially in terms of working hours and the high rate of acceptance by consumer demographics as compared to men . Professions in sports even those that are considered as feminine comprise of very few women. Most women have resigned to notions in the society such as the notion that sports is a field for men so as to deal with the glass ceiling effect and tend to avoid such professions altogether.
There is a large pay gap between men and women holding the same managerial positions with women in managerial positions being subjected to pay penalties of up to 7% per child . A study that was conducted on men and women holding the same managerial positions proved that both men and women show the same commitment to both their work life and their family life. The pay gap is therefore not called for and this proves that women are discriminated at their places of work.
A study was conducted to analyze gender bias and differences in the leadership skills which are applied by both men and women. This study used 857 men and an equal number of women in top managerial positions in five different countries in six different companies across Western Europe, the United States and Australia. The study found no bias against women leaders but rather the bias was directed to the advantage of women leaders . This study discovered that women used more forceful leadership skills associated with tactics leading to execution while men leadership styles allowed the application of strategies, a leadership style common among senior leadership positions. The glass ceiling effect can be overcome by imparting strategic leadership skills on women leaders to make the better corporate leaders which will enable more women to climb up the corporate ladder.
Organizations with more women employees are more effective and exhibit less cases of work life conflict. Women are subjected to discrimination as a result of the conflict between gender roles such as child bearing and societal roles such as leadership . Most corporate organization hinder the development of the career woman through unrealistic expectations from women leaders, structured obstacles in the human resource management and differing mentoring styles from those which are applied on men leaders.
Elliott and Stead conducted a study on 6 women leaders which proved that women leaders apply skills acquired through their entire life. They gather these skills during their upbringing, network and alliances, focus and the environment. Women apply leadership skills which are relational, contextual and dynamic . These are qualities of a good leader and they come in handy especially during decision making. Organizations need to set standards from women leaders which are different from those that are applied on their male counterparts. By understanding the woman leader organizations can be able to use to tap the woman leadership skills to a maximum and enhance women career development instead of acting as barriers to their development.
Do ladies who break through the figurative obstruction really see the discriminatory limitations so regularly reported in sociology research? Then again are these discriminatory limitations some way or another imperceptible to them? It turns out the responses to these inquiries are more confounded than you may might suspect. They likewise have extensive results: high-accomplishing ladies' convictions about unfair limitations can influence whether they execute arrangements that reinforce exceptional ladies' prosperity (Clevenger & Singh, 2013).
The analysts found that work and family figures influence whether ladies perceive unreasonable impediments. Ladies who are destined to experience effective boundaries because of their work and family circumstances (extended periods, being the family provider, having youthful kids) are likewise well on the way to perceive how auxiliary components influence their own and other ladies' prosperity. At the end of the day, these ladies will probably see the unattainable rank.
Interestingly, the best ladies, and ladies with solid associations with specific foundations, for example, graduate business college, will probably trust that individual activities drive achievement. Put in an unexpected way, these ladies don't see the unreasonable impediment.
The ramifications of Cech and Blair-Loy's examination broaden past ladies' perspectives of the unfair limitation and could ensnare how function is outlined later on. Whether pioneers (men and ladies) perceive the discriminatory limitation – and whether they trust that authoritative or individual components prompted achievement – may influence how these pioneers plan future hierarchical structures and advancement open doors for up and coming eras of ladies (Clevenger & Singh, 2013).
Cech and Blair-Loy concentrated on individuals from ISIS (nom de plume), not-for-profit proficient relationship for ladies in science, innovation, and unified fields. ISIS ladies have made significant vocation progress and work inside a focused district of California. The study tried to reveal if contrasts in work or family circumstances sway whether ladies see imbalance more as a consequence of the association (basic reasons) or as an aftereffect of individual endeavors (meritocratic clarifications).
As opposed to concentrating on the qualities of any single lady, auxiliary clarifications point to bigger social and institutional variables outside the person. For instance, auxiliary clarifications would indicate the part informal organizations play in confining ladies' entrance to esteemed assets, for example, progression opportunities, instead of concentrating on whether an individual lady exploits those systems.
Ladies constitute 47% of the work power, 1/3 of all MBA degrees, and just 2% of Fortune 500 CEOs. In 48% of Fortune 1000 organizations, there are no ladies officials by any means (Cotter, 2011).
Auxiliary clarifications additionally consider generalizations about ladies' fitness. For instance, research on generalizations has demonstrated that if a lady is by and by affable, she is frequently accepted to be a less capable pioneer. In like manner, on the off chance that she is seen as equipped, she is seen as unlikeable. Men don't encounter the same tradeoff. Due to sex generalizations, hierarchical pioneers may debase ladies' commitments or punish their confidence. Thus, ladies frequently confront higher norms and punishments than similarly qualified men do (Cotter, 2011).
These clarifications concentrate on individual legitimacy – or scarcity in that department – as opposed to considering auxiliary obstructions. As indicated by Cech, meritocratic clarifications are "the bread and margarine of the American dream, that anyone can accomplish anything the length of they buckle sufficiently down and have enough drive” (Cotter, 2011, p. 658).
Meritocratic clarifications accept that individual ability and exertion bring relative prizes, for example, pay and advancement. These clarifications accept that individuals who buckle down and have enough characteristic capacity can achieve the largest amounts of progress. As per this rationale, if ladies have not accomplished as exceedingly as men, this is on account of ladies need adequate instruction, experience, or yearning to achieve the top.
High-accomplishing ladies have motivations to bolster both sorts of clarifications, basic and meritocratic. From one perspective, effective ladies may encounter the sorts of basic boundaries sociologists expound on. They confront generalizations in their everyday lives, battle to shape practical systems administration connections, and experience resistance while exhibiting initiative.
Then again, high-accomplishing ladies are intensely put resources into their establishments. They need to trust the framework in which they succeeded is reasonable. "Not all ladies officials see the discriminatory limitation despite the fact that they extremely may well have encountered it," Cech clarifies (Cotter, 2011, p. 680). To see their own particular accomplishment as genuine, they perceive their own diligent work, drive, and shrewd decisions as the privileged insights of their prosperity.
So which is it? Do these ladies support auxiliary or meritocratic clarifications? Cech and Blair-Loy revealed an unpredictable reality.
Auxiliary clarifications are most regular among ladies who experience everyday circumstances that test the suspicion that "individual exertion drives accomplishment." without these particular encounters, ladies support meritocratic clarifications. Fully 40% of high-accomplishing ladies tested support meritocratic clarifications for achievement. In addition, 60% of the specimen support basic clarifications for achievement (Jackson, 2014,).
Cech and Blair-Loy discovered that ladies' family parts sway whether they perceive obstructions to their prosperity. Ladies who work more hours, serve as essential providers in their families, or have youthful kids will probably see the unfair limitation. Cech and Blair-Loy guess that such ladies experience unmistakable and diligent hindrances that initiate their consciousness of basic reasons for imbalance. In this manner, 60 percent of the respondents in the study favored basic clarifications (Jackson, 2014).
For instance, ladies may see their advancement opportunities decrease once they have a youthful youngster, and they may battle to counter supervisors' and colleagues' generalizations that they are less dedicated to their work.
"On the off chance that I am working 85 hours a week, and my male partner is working 80 hours a week, and he is winning 20 percent more than I do, I'm going to begin to address whether the progression framework that I am in is reasonable," Cech said (Jackson, 2014). At the point when individuals' day by day encounters challenge the authenticity of meritocratic clarifications, they start to search for option approaches to represent their substances, for example, basic clarifications.
Conversely, other ladies officials appear to be practically invulnerable to seeing the unreasonable impediment. Cech and Blair-Loy found that ladies with cutting edge business degrees, wedded ladies, and ladies in one of the main two positions in their organizations incline toward meritocratic clarifications of sex imbalance. On the whole, 40 percent of the specimen favored meritocratic clarifications.
Of course, the common philosophy in many business colleges is an intense confidence in meritocracy – that diligent work is the way to achievement. Ladies inserted in these establishments may feel constrained to adjust themselves to those beliefs instead of stressing the obstructions they confront.
More than 26 percent of the example trusted that ladies' own absence of individual inspiration is the main component keeping them away from progression to corporate initiative. "Over a quarter of these respondents faulted ladies themselves, [assuming] that they are excessively dedicated to their families, or have no craving, or there is nothing keeping them down," Cech clarified (Cotter, 2011). Therefore a significant rate of high-accomplishing specialized ladies credit sexual orientation disparity to ladies' own deficiencies as opposed to social or hierarchical obstructions.
Ladies at the top, particularly ladies in male-commanded fields, regularly overcame significant obstructions to get where they are today. To succeed, they needed to push past basic obstructions. This achievement technique can incorporate disregarding the boundaries and centering rather on individual exertion.
In this sense, the very ability that empowered them to succeed might be the reason they are not the first in line to execute new approaches that help other ladies. "By tolerating the authenticity of the framework [of progression to corporate leadership]," Cech and Blair-Loy's exploration battles, "they may add to the propagation of the very discriminatory constraints they have split."
In any case, as opposed to accuse these high-accomplishing ladies, we ought to look to teach them – and their male partners – on the ways auxiliary boundaries make sexual orientation disparity. "One of the take-home approach messages of this [study] is that we can't expect that anyone comprehends the premise of imbalance," Cech said. "It must be something that individuals are taught to see and comprehend, or else they [may] carry on in a way that imitates that very structure” (Cotter, 2011, p. 676)
Policymakers should effectively work to bring issues to light about the drivers of disparity, clarifies Cech. Ladies at the top are in awesome position to make new approaches, and she fights that we should prepare them, and also male pioneers, with a comprehension of how associations make impediments for specialists. We should enroll their assistance in making arrangements that empower specialists to get through persisting biased based impediments.
Conclusion
In conclusion the glass ceiling effect discriminates the career woman pursuing career development in the corporate managerial hierarchy. The glass ceiling effect is a phenomenon in the society barring women from climbing up the corporate ladder. The glass ceiling manifests itself through the few women in corporate offices and the even fewer women acting as CEOs in the corporate organizations that they work. This is in spite of the fact that womenfolk account for half of the work force in corporate organizations. The few women leaders that are there are also subjected to lower pay wages as compared to their male counterparts in similar managerial positions. The glass ceiling effect can be broken by understanding the woman leader without measuring her capabilities against those that can be achieved by their male counterparts. Men and women apply different leadership skills and women can also be educated on strategic leadership skills. Corporate organizations should also not discriminate the woman leader on the basis of gender roles such as child bearing.
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