Recent headlines tell the story that the popular media wants us to believe about women in the executive suite "Women gain numbers, respect in board rooms, "New career trend. She goes, He follows," women entrepreneurs have came a long way, "women are liberating a citadel of male power", and "you've came a long way, baby". Clever as the headlines are, these depictions of woman success in the corporate world are misleading. Increasingly, women are bumping into a ceiling is a barrier "So subtle that it I transparent, yet so strong that it prevents women from moving up the corporate hierarchy." From their vantage point on the corporate ladder, women can see the high-level corporate positions but are kept from "reaching the top" (Breaking the glass ceiling).
What is the glass ceiling?.
The term "glass ceiling" refers to the level beyond which qualified women and minorities are denied the opportunity to advance into management level positions regardless of their accomplishments and merits. The glass ceiling is comprised of artificial barriers often exhibited in day to day practices, management and employee attitudes, and internal systems that operate to the career disadvantage of women and minorities. .
What causes the glass ceiling?.
Job Segregation .
Just as the overall labor market remains sharply segregated by sex, women executives are concentrated into certain types of jobs mostly staff and support jobs that offer little opportunity for getting to the top. A 1986 Wall Street Journal survey found "The highest ranking women in most industries are in non-operating areas such as personnel, public relations, or, occasionally, finance specialties that seldom lead to the most powerful top-management posts." A woman is locked out of jobs in the "business mainstream," the route taken by CEOs and presidents. However, even when women can get a line job, it is not likely to be "in a crucial part of the business" or the types of job that can "mark them as leaders.