Women have achieved higher levels of education than ever before and today represent over forty percent of the global workforce. Over the past twenty-five years, the percentage of women participating in the workforce has increased. However, this increase has been confined to entry-level positions, while the middle and senior level management positions still reflect a shortage of women. The question remains: Why after all of the Civil Rights movements and women's equality activist groups are we as Americans still having this problem? Why is America unable to recognize that women can do what men can do and vice versa? After researching this matter, I encountered a multitude of different reasons for the male or female management dilemma. Women do experience some level of leeway in the workforce; however, they are currently still being held back for certain positions. This is what is called the glass ceiling. Glass ceilings are the artificial barriers that deny women and minorities the opportunity to advance within their careers. I will cover all of these reasons that the females are being held back, as well as certain barriers that women possess that may be restraining them from advancing in the workplace. .
Women have entered into junior management grades in increasing numbers in the last twenty-five years. Around half of all women at work have a female boss. Between 1974 and 1998 the number of women company directors increased by six hundred percent. However, less than four in every hundred directors are women. The situation is slightly better in lower management grades, nearly one in five of all managers are women (Smashing Mary-Ann Stephenson, 2003). But the higher up the organization's hierarchy the fewer women that are seen. Women are continually being seen moving up into management positions, but they reach a certain point and don't go any further. Some men say that it is lack of a sponsor or mentor (Breaking through International Labor Org.