Gender Compiling: The Problem Of The Glass Ceiling

I am going to discuss the problem of the glass ceiling. In 2011, an astounding number of 1.5 million women brought a class action lawsuit against Wal-Mart, on the basis of sex discrimination; it was the largest sex-discrimination suit in history. Bobbi Miller, one of the plaintiffs, was annually earning thousands of dollars less than her male coworker, who had considerably less experience than her. Other plaintiffs were Wal-Mart employees who were constantly passed up for promotion; when they asked about it, they were told that a management position is a “man’s job.” Cheryl Phipps, another employee, stated, “We seek justice for ourselves and all Walmart women workers in this region who have been denied equal pay and opportunities for promotion” (Cavaliere). These allegations demonstrate the gender wage gap and the glass ceiling, the inevitable barrier preventing women from attaining top management positions. In fact, around 75% of the hourly supervisors were women, but only 33% of the store managers were women (Carnes and Radojevich-Kelley 74). Like Wal-Mart, many other businesses exhibit gender inequality and gender discrimmination. The glass ceiling acts as a substantial obstacle to gender equality, and it should be resolved through entrepreneurship.

Despite the huge strides in gender equality that women have made over the past century, patriarchy still persists in the United States. From a business viewpoint, this is especially evident in the glass ceiling, a term describing the invisible, but existent, barrier that prevents women from attaining high-level management jobs (Buckalew et. al.149). The glass ceiling can be seen in the underrepresentation of women in these top jobs; even though women comprise 46.7 percent of the la...

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...adults in the United States believe that women cannot focus on jobs as much as men can because of family responsibilities. However, research shows that only a very weak relationship between being female and work interference exists, and there are similar levels of family interference with work for both men and women (Hoobler et. al. 2009). Managers are still generally biased against women because they perceive family to be a large distraction. This leads to managers not promoting women, who are stuck in lower-level jobs. On the other hand, some working mothers may choose to stay in their existing jobs, instead of rising through the ranks, because they perceive that the stress of both work and family will be too much to handle (Carnes and Radojevich-Kelley). Perceptions held by both the managers and the employees may contribute to the existence of the glass ceiling.