Glass Ceiling

The term glass ceiling was first used by Carol Hymowitz and Timothy Schellhardt in their 1986 Wall Street Journal article to describe the invisible barriers that keep women from upper management positions in American corporations. It has also been used to refer to [Page 994]the exclusion of racial and ethnic minorities from upper management, both women and men. The glass ceiling phenomenon was studied extensively during the 1990s and, although Carly Fiorina denied its existence when she was appointed CEO of Hewlett Packard in 1999, there is evidence that it still exists. There are currently many more women in upper management and executive positions, but parity has certainly not been reached, particularly in the highest positions.

Exclusion of women and racial and ethnic minorities from the ...