Glass Ceiling

Does the Glass Ceiling Exist in Organizations?

The proportion of women in management has increased over the past three decades in almost all countries, and legislation in some countries (e.g., affirmative action legislation in the United States and Canada) has contributed to this trend, as Powell and Graves documented in 2003. Despite this encouraging increase, recent research by Catalyst in 2005 has highlighted that the glass ceiling is firmly in place. In the United States, women held 50.3% of all management and professional positions in 2005, yet only 7.9% of Fortune 500 top earners and 1.4% of Fortune 500 CEOs were women. In the United Kingdom, 78 Financial Times Share Index (FTSE 100) companies in 2005 had women directors, up 13% from the previous year. However, only 11 FTSE 100 companies had female executive directors, which was below the 2002 figure, and 22 of the FTSE 100 boards in 2005 were all-male (see the discussion and data in Singh and Vinnicombe's 2005 study).

These statistics largely reflect the experiences of white women. It is important to highlight that black and ethnic minority women across the globe often face significant barriers. Although there is a general lack of data on ethnicity and employment, black and ethnic minority women are underrepresented at senior and professional levels in the labor market, as the UK Commission for Racial Equality documented in 2006. In the United Kingdom in 2004, for example, 17% of ethnic minority men were managers or senior officials, compared to 10% of ethnic minority women.[Page 553] The highest percentages of women and men in these positions were Indian and Chinese. Furthermore, in some countries such as South Africa, women of all races are disadvantaged and hardly any hold senior positions, especially in the corporate world, according to Mathur-Helm in 2005. Similarly, in China, 47% of the labor force is female, yet very few are in managerial roles, as Fang-Lee Cooke recorded in 2005. Thus, despite encouraging trends in some countries, women are still comparatively absent from managerial roles, and those who are in management tend to be in lowerlevel managerial positions.

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