Prologue of the study: a macro view
Gender discrimination is a one of the burning issues that social science academia across the globe is concerned about not only for academic research but also view as a societal problem. Non-academic intelligentsia ranging from research institutes, policy studies body to government authorities are also not in lack of interest in this sector. Many operational features of gender discrimination have been identified regionally and globally, of which organizational focus has been a recent phenomena. Some buzzwords like womenomics, gendered view of organization, feminization of poverty, blue collar job for women, work-life balance for women can mentioned randomly of the lot.
Background of the study: rationale for commencement
One of the finest think tank of the planet, Harvard Business School recently came up with dozens of open access working papers and research essays addressing the theme of “Gender and Work: Challenging Conventional Wisdom” held between February 28 - March 1, 2013. Another leading organization International Monetary Fund (IMF) published a report titled as “Women, Work, and the Economy: Macroeconomic Gains from Gender Equity” where the researcher have discussed the specific macro-critical aspects of women’s participation in the labor market and the constraints that prevent women from developing their full economic potential. (Katrin Elborgh-Woytek, 2013)
Scholars from many fields have already contributed in this body of researches on glass ceiling. Within sociology and management, scholars such as Olga Bain And William Cummings (2000), Renée Adams and Daniel Ferreira (2009), Blau & Kahn (2000), Bertrand, Goldin, & Katz (2010) focused on women’s performance in academic and corporate...
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...scrimination in India: glass ceiling or sticky floor? Delhi School of Economics, University of Delhi, Working Paper No. 214, .
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Meyerson, D., & Fletcher, J. (1999). A Modest Manifesto for Shattering the Glass Ceiling. Harvard Business Review .
Miller, A. R. (2010). The Effects of Motherhood Timing on Career Path. Journal of Population Economics .
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William Cummings, O. a. (November 2000). Academe's Glass Ceiling: Societal, Professional/Organizational, and Institutional Barriers to the Career Advancement of Academic Women. Comparative Education Review, Vol. 44, No. 4 , 493-514.
1. Finn, Lisa. "Female Discrimination in the Workplace." Editorial. Global Post-America's World News Site. N.p., 2005. Web. 17 Mar. 2014. .
“The history of the Glass Ceiling Commission dates back to 1986 when Wall Street Journal reported a pattern of highly accomplished women being passed over for upper-level promotions due to an invisible barrier”. The term “glass-ceiling” first entered America’s public conversation almost two decades ago, when the Corporate Woman column from The Wall Street Journal identified this new phenomenon. “There seem to be an invisible –but impenetrable- barrier between women and the executive suite, preventing them from reaching the highest levels of the business world regardless of th...
The glass ceiling is defined as the “unseen, yet unbreachable barrier that keeps… women from rising to the upper rungs of the corporate ladder, regardless of their qualifications or achievements.” According to the Department of Labor, the glass ceiling is made up of “artificial barriers [that are] based on attitudinal or organizational bias that prevent qualified individuals from advancing upward in their organization into management-level positions.” Qualified women are continuously denied a promotion to the highest levels of corporate America and other professions. Once women reach a certain level at their career, they plateau and the glass ceiling prevents them from advancing any higher.
The "glass ceiling" has held women back from certain positions and opportunities in the workplace. Women are stereotyped as part-time, lower-grade workers with limited opportunities for training and advancement because of this "glass ceiling". How have women managed their careers when confronted by this glass ceiling? It has been difficult; American women have struggled for their role in society since 1848. Women’s roles have changed significantly throughout the past centuries because of their willingness and persistence. Women have contributed to the change pace of their role in the workplace by showing motivation and perseverance.
Bravo, Santa Anna and Meric discuss the ways in which women are disadvantaged in the workplace which directly ties back to gender roles, in "An Overview of Women and Work." Crawley, Foley and Shehan
The institutionalized discrimination of women in the work place is nothing new or unheard of. The brunt of it has happened fairly recently as women began to enter the labor market in force less than a century ago. The affect of this discrimination has had long lasting, generation spanning affects, but as time has passed and feminism spread, the gender-gap has slowly begun to shrink.
The “Glass Ceiling” is the term giving to the invisible obstacles sometimes found in the workforce. The barriers that limit women’s and minorities progress toward employment equity extend from the glass ceiling at the top of corporations to the floor of low paying jobs in the labor market. These barriers are created by a process at exclusion that continuously eliminates women, minorities, and other underprivileged groups from being candidates of higher positions. When a company exercises this type of discrimination, they look for the most defensible explanation they can find to make this behavior seem acceptable. The “glass ceiling” is still very much a part of the corporate world today as it was many years ago. This is evident by the hindered progress of women and minorities seen in much of the corporate workforce.
For many decades, women have faced inequalities in the workforce. At one point, they were not allowed to work at all. Although women's rights have improved and are now able to work alongside men, they are still treated unfairly. According to the 2012 U.S. Census, women’s earnings were “76.5 percent of men’s” (1). In 2012, men, on average, earned $47,398 and women earned only $35,791. This is when comparing employees where both gender spend the same amount of time working. Not only do women encounter unfairness in work pay, they also face a “glass ceiling” on a promotional basis. This glass ceiling is a “promotion barrier that prevents woman’s upward ability” (2). For example, if a woman is able to enter a job traditionally for men, she will still not receive the same pay or experience the same increase in occupational ability. Gender typing plays a huge role in the workplace. It is the idea that women tend to hold jobs that are low paid with low status. Women are not highly considered in leadership positions because of social construction of gender. Society has given women the role of “caretakers” and sensitive individuals. Therefore, women are not depicted as authoritative figures, which is apparent with the absence of women in leadership roles in companies. Furthermore, sex segregation leads to occupations with either the emphasis of women in a certain job or men in a certain job. In 2009, occupations with the highest proportion of women included “secretary, child care worker, hair dresser, cashier, bookkeeper, etc.” (3). Male workers typically held job positions as construction workers, truck drivers, taxi drivers, etc. (3). Sex segregation represents inequality because the gender composition for these jobs depends on what ...
Women face the combat of being asked to leave when breast feeding or banned from exposing their chest at beaches, the same as any man. As a country we are ranked 24th when it comes to global index measuring gender equality. We have moved down the list by 10 places in almost 10 years. Gender discrimination within Australia creates something called the Glass ceiling for women. Within The Working Woman Report, by Gay Bryant the concept was first a topic of discussion. The glass ceiling refers to the invisible barrier that keeps women from advancing in their careers and opportunities. The glass ceiling prevents women from reaching pay equality and equality within the workplace. The reference to glass highlights the fact that this barrier was rarely seen or spoken on until recent years. Even in this day and age the glass ceiling is still debilitating for women within Australia and the world. These barriers socially exclude women from society and allow them to only for fill societies expectations for a modern day women. Within the society of today there has been a lot of change directed toward the way women are meant to act in the professional
Also, the majority of women have been able to secure employment from traditionally female occupations such as teaching compared to male-dominated careers like engineering. Moreover, democratic country like the United States of America has recognized gender inequality as a fundamental issue and espouse equal right between men and women in contributing to social, economic and cultural life. Despite this improvement, gender inequality persists as women are not represented and treated equally in the workplace (Michialidis, Morphitou, & Theophylatou, 2012). The increasing number of women in the workplace has not provided equal opportunity for career advancement for females due to the way women are treated in an organization and the society. Also, attaining an executive position seem impossible for women due to the glass ceiling effects which defines the invisible and artificial barrier created by attitudinal and organizational prejudices, which inhibit women from attaining top executive positions (Wirth
Parcheta, N., Kaifi, B., & Khanfar, N. (2013). Gender Inequality in the Workforce: A Human Resource Management Quandary. Journal of Business Studies Quarterly, 4(3), 240-248.
Currently, there is still inequality in pay for men and women during the same job which is an act of gender discrimination in the workplace. Gender discrimination is defined as prejudice or discrimination based on an individual’s gender. Gender equality is attained when individuals are able to access and enjoy equal rewards and opportunities irrespective of their gender. Various countries have made substantial progress concerning gender equality in recent periods. Conversely, women still endure less salary earnings in comparison to men, moreover, women are less likely to advance their careers as far as men are able to. The “Sex Discrimination Act 1984” gives influence to Australia’s international human rights obligations and promotes equivalence
Another target populations, has been the “glass ceiling,” or invisible barrier, that keeps women and minorities from attaining top jobs. While the ideal of equal opportunity is espoused, it is far from a reality. Women and minorities continue to “peak out” at a low level of management. Kelborn (1995) (pg.
There are two reasons why gender discrimination is an especially important topic. First, the likely presence of systemic discrimination on the basis of gender suggests that the number of people who might be affected is huge, that is, discrimination against women would put half the population at a disadvantage. Given the potential impact of gender discrimination, the possibility that gender is an important influence on people’s work lives must be considered. Second, there is a good deal of evidence that men and women are treated differently in the workplace. Women receive lower wages than men, are segregated into low-level jobs, and are less likely to be promoted. Sometimes it is difficult to determine exactly why men and women enter different jobs or receive different pay, and what appears to be gender discrimination in the workplace may in fact reflect much broader societal t...
It can be concluded that women are treated in terms of stereotyped impressions of being the lowest class and greater evidence can be found that there are large disparities between the women and the men 's class. It can be seen that women are more likely to play casual roles as they are most likely to take seasonal and part time work so that they can work according to their needs. They are hampered from progressing upward into the organizations as they face problems like lack of health insurance, sexual harassments, lower wage rates, gender biases and attitudes of negative behavior. However, this wouldn’t have hampered the participation of the women in the work force and they continue to increase their efforts which is highly evident in the occupational and job ratios of females in the industry.