Women in management presents itself to companies as a great opportunity. With a great opportunity there can also be some risks that the company must take. There are risks such as a work/family conflict, dual career couples, and sexual harassment. Today organizations must be bias free and accept all genders and races of the society. With the challenges of cultural diversity organizations have to follow guidelines and must not discriminate among these groups. Since 1964 the civil rights legislation has put a stop to the discrimination of hiring on account of race, religion, or gender. To some extent it has helped, but it the amount of women and minorities succeeding into getting into top management is still scarce.
Affirmative action was taken only 40 years ago in response to working conditions. Only 40 years ago Adult white males dominated the workforce. With widespread prejudice and discrimination it was necessary to allow women and other minorities into the work force. In the beginning the affirmative action planned seemed to be a failure and organizations began to question if they were wasting their time and money into these programs. Today the situation has changed a great deal. With the workforce being more than half of women and minorities. Although certain studies have shown that both working managers and students consistently rated that organizations hire minorities that are less competent and receive a lower salary than those that are not associated with affirmative action. .
In the case of women in management the struggle to the top seems just out of reach. There is a certain theory called the glass ceiling. The glass ceiling is an invisible barrier that separates women and minorities from top management positions. They can see the top management positions through the ceiling but there seems to be so many different obstacles to get in the way of reaching the top.