Glass Ceiling

The glass ceiling has been defined by the U.S. Department of Labor as artificial barriers based on attitudinal or organizational bias that prevent qualified individuals from advancing upward in their organization into management-level positions. The concept of a glass ceiling was originally used to describe women's blocked opportunities within organizations and has also been applied to the experiences of ethnic minorities. It is commonly referred to as the barrier that cannot be seen or touched but has the effect of stopping women and minority members from reaching the top echelons of organizations. For example, there are increasing numbers of women and ethnic minority members in management in general. However, they are not proportionally represented in the top management positions.

Research on the glass ceiling spans many disciplines, including sociology, psychology, management, gender studies, and ethnic studies, just to name a few. The bulk of the early research focused on documenting and reviewing the status of White women's progress into management. Research, predominately in the form of reviews on the glass ceiling, began in the mid-1970s. These reviews addressed the question of why there were so few women in management positions within organizations. As the number of women in the labor force increased over time and women advanced into management ranks, the issue of concern became one of why there were so few women in top management positions.

Currently, the number of women in top management is still not proportional to their representation in management overall. The most recent Census of Women Corporate Officers and Top Earners conducted by Catalyst in 2002 found that women currently represent 15.7% of corporate officers in America's Fortune 500 companies. This was an increase from 12.5% in 2000 and 8.7% in 1995. Women compose 7.1% of the 496 chief financial officers (CFOs) and 16.1% of the 453 general counsels (GCs), an increase from the year 2000, when 5.6% of the CFOs were [Page 272]women and 13.7% of the GCs were women. Despite the increased number of women in the upper echelons of Fortune 500 companies, the top earning corporate officers were predominately men; 95% (n = 2,141) were men, whereas 5.2% (n = 118) were women. Women were far less likely to be in line positions, meaning those positions with revenue-generating or profit and loss responsibilities that tend to lead to advancement and greater rewards, than men at 6.2% versus men at 93.8%. Women have made some progress in catching up with their male counterparts, but disparities in power and salary still exist, leading to the assumption of the existence of the glass ceiling for women.

In recent years, as ethnic minorities have entered into the ranks of management and in increasing numbers into the labor pool, it has been suggested that they also encounter a glass ceiling. For example, population statistics and research show that minorities have less access to well-paying jobs, have few opportunities for promotions, and are segregated into less prestigious occupations or niches within occupations. However, most research on the glass ceiling and minorities has focused predominately on African Americans, to the exclusion of other minorities. African Americans are currently the largest numerical ethnic minority in the United States and correspondingly has been the most studied minority group. Recently, it has been suggested that not all ethnic minorities encounter the same type of barriers because of differences in experiences specific to each ethnic minority group. For example, Asian Americans as a group currently have the highest educational attainment levels and are well represented in professional and technical fields. It has been suggested that they may encounter different types of barriers than African American minority members. More research focusing on other ethnic minority groups is needed to investigate these hypotheses.

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