The Glass Ceiling Essay -- Gender Roles, Women, Minorities

The â€Å"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 â€Å"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. In order to develop the theme of influence of the invisible glass ceiling to the work place, it is important to rely on the background of this opinion. According to the economical point of view, the glass ceiling is referred to as the unseen, yet unbreachable barrier that keeps minorities and women from rising to the top of the corporate ladder, regardless of their qualification or achievements. This metaphor was initially only applied to women, but quickly extended to minority men as well (Shedd). While legislation regarding discrimination based on gender prevents overt discrimination, subtle measures have been found to exist within many organizations which effectively prevent women from moving into the highest levels of management. These include doubtful success criteria, inaccurate perception of women’s aspirations and progress, and cultural biases against working women (Miller 18). Blocked opportunitie... ...eeps minorities and women from rising to the upper rungs of the corporate ladder regardless of their qualifications or achievements. This barrier of blocking women and minorities from reaching top echelons reveals the extent of the problems faced by women. There is no doubt that the glass ceiling continues to plague talented women who struggle to reach the top positions in their career. The glass ceiling is also a problem for top management of corporations that need to recognize the changes in the modern age. By following the traditional way of hiring and promoting individuals, corporations are missing out on the vast talent pool of women. By opening higher management positions to women, corporations stand to benefit from the creativity, more interactional, more participative, and knowledge of women who will offer a unique perspective to growing corporations.