Glass Ceiling its causes and Types


In economics, the term glass ceiling refers to "the unseen, yet unbreachable barrier that keeps minorities and women from rising to the upper rungs of the corporate ladder, regardless of their qualifications or achievements." Initially, the metaphor applied to barriers in the careers of women but was quickly extended to refer to obstacles hindering the advancement of minority men, as well as women.


 Women saw little advancement in corporate boardrooms and compensation in 2010, extending a 5-year trend in which companies have lagged in promoting and mentoring women to their own detriment, according to a new study released on Monday.

“Corporate America needs to get ‘unstuck’ when it comes to advancing women to leadership,” said Ilene Lang, president and chief executive of Catalyst, a non-profit organization that advocates greater opportunities for women.

The study found that 136 of the Fortune 500 companies had no women executives. Among those with no women were Exxon Mobil, Berkshire Hathaway, Citigroup, Costco Wholesale and Sears, the study said.

Women held 14.4 percent of executive officer positions in 2010, up from 13.5 percent in 2009, and female executive officers held 7.6 percent of the top earning positions, up from 6.3 percent in 2009, the 2010 Catalyst Census said. The best five companies in terms of women in the executive suit were: Gap 50 percent, H&R Block 50 percent, Limited Brands 50 percent, TIAA-CREF 50 percent and Western Union 45.5 percent. Reuters. There are number of barriers and have various types, some of the majors are given below.

Societal barriers

The Federal Glass Ceiling Commission of the United States Department of Labor identified two major societal barriers that cause and reinforce a glass ceiling. The supply barrier is related to opportunity and achievement. The difference barrier manifests itself as conscious and unconscious stereotypes, prejudice, and bias related to gender and ethnicity.

Internal business barriers

The following business-based barriers were identified:
  • Outreach and recruitment practices that fail to seek out or recruit women and minorities
  • Prevailing culture of many businesses is a white male culture and such corporate climates alienate and isolate minorities and women 
  • Initial placement and clustering in staff jobs or in highly technical and professional jobs that are not on the career track to the top
  • Lack of mentoring and management training
  • Lack of opportunities for career development, tailored training, and rotational job assignments that are on the revenue-producing side of the business
  • Little or no access to critical developmental assignments such as memberships on highly visible task forces and committees
  • Special or different standards for performance evaluation
     Biased rating and testing systems
     Little or no access to informal networks of communication
     Counterproductive behavior and harassment by colleagues
The Federal Glass Ceiling Commission and independent research suggest that the underlying cause of the glass ceiling is the perception of many white males that as a group they are losing control and opportunity. Many middle- and upper-level white male managers regard the inclusion of minorities and women in management as a direct threat to their own chances for advancement. As a result of this "upper- and middle-level white male resistance", business-based barriers are not always being as forcefully addressed as they should.

Governmental barriers

The Federal Glass Ceiling Commission pinpointed three governmental barriers to the elimination of the glass ceiling. They are:
  • Lack of vigorous and consistent monitoring and law enforcement
  • Weaknesses in the collection of employment-related data which makes it difficult to ascertain the status of groups at the managerial level and to disaggregate the data Inadequate reporting and dissemination of information relevant to glass ceiling issue

Other barriers

  • Different pay for comparable work.
  • Sexual, ethnic, racial, religious discrimination or harassment in the workplace
  • Lack of family-friendly workplace policies (or, on the flipside, policies that discriminate against gay people, non-parents, or single parents)
  • Exclusion from informal networks; Stereotyping and preconceptions of women's roles and abilities; Failure of senior leadership to assume accountability for women's advancement; Lack of role models; Lack of mentoring
  • Requiring long hours for advancement, sometimes called the hour-glass ceiling

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  3. AOA. Respected Sir can anyone share the "Factors responsible" for GLASS CEILING?

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