Glass Ceiling Essay Example for Free

Glass Ceiling Essay Glass ceiling is a term that describes the artificial plateau, beyond which women and other minorities are denied the opportunity to advance to upper levels of executive management in corporate America. It has become a routine practice to deny thousands of qualified women the top level jobs, merited by their performance. Glass ceiling is an explanation, which describes the factors involved in the activities of upper levels of executive management in corporate America. (Cordtz, 2003) The women group and the other minorities are stopped to succeed in their respective fields. Although the minorities as well as women are much qualified, and deserve the upper level positions in the management. The observations on this research topic describes that it is a routine practice of the management that they deny thousands of qualified women to come up and prove their talents. The qualified women’s are desirable to work and show their capabilities to the world. But they are not allowed to do so. The minority groups and women also deserve their respective positions on their merit but they are denied to prove their capabilities. The glass ceiling is also known as the brick wall because the women and the minority groups complain about the ineffective behavior of the higher level of management. These workingwomen Order#31415899 Pg. 2 and the minority groups are really fed up of this discrimination. They want a proper platform where the decisions should be made on the basis of equality. â€Å"Department of Labor studies have found that women hold only a small percentage of senior management positions in Fortune 500 companies. The glass ceiling barriers toward women are nothing but an insidious form of sex discrimination, in violation of law. † The studies based on the topic of Glass Ceiling describes that women are deprived of their rights and are not allowed to reach higher level of management. There is a barrier, which stops this effective group of workers to rise. Women are really competitive and they have many in born talents to prove and explore. This group can prove themselves in any field but they are not allowed to make themselves competitive, instead they are degraded and discouraged. (Cordtz, 2003) Glass ceiling is considered as the level beyond which qualified women and minority groups are not allowed to rise in a particular woprkplace. The glass ceiling consists of those factors, which form this barrier for the competitive women. Glass ceiling comprises of day-to day practices, dealings, attitudes, behavior and internal systems that adds to the career disadvantage of women. These factors are considered to be Order#31415899 Pg. 3 hindrances in the path of success and progress of the group of women. There are many other reasons which are included in the artificial barrier, which are â€Å"Overall, women work fewer hours than men; have less job experience and work fewer years; and avoid work in risky or unpleasant jobs which tend to be more highly compensated. Also, marriage and children tend to depress earnings for women when compared to men or single females† The factors, which are included in the glass ceiling, are that these women workers are not allowed to work for many hours because they also have the responsibility of their home. Moreover women are not so experienced and advanced as compared to men. If the situation will be considered by the society’s point of view than it will be noted that structure and the capabilities of the women are limited and their implication can be made in certain specific circumstances. A woman acts as a mother and a wife . In order to fulfill the requirements of a mother and a wife she gets confused and is not able to concentrate on the work efficiently. Women have a wide share of responsibility and they cannot devote themselves entirely to one task. (Zachariasiewicz, 2001) Order#31415899 Pg. 4 Studies show that glass ceiling act as a barrier for the progress and success of the women also includes the factor that the women do not know the art to control corporate activities . In fact they are not able to understand the complexed activities of the corporate . As it can be said that â€Å". Corporate life is a game, which is not always fair: for men or women. Being able to take risks without making waves, being a team player who can operate independently when necessary and participating in after-hours activities may not set well with some women, but for the present, the reality of the situation needs to be acknowledged if it is ever to change†. (Zachariasiewicz, 2001) My own experiences have taught me that corporate life is not an easy task to deal with . The activities of corporate involves many factors and these factors are divided into groups and subgroups . It is not always fair for both men and women. There are certain standards, which have to be fulfilled in order to run a smooth corporate life . If these standards would not be fulfilled than it might prove dangerous for the future of the company. There should be an ability to take risks without uttering a single word of complaint. Then the corporate life also includes the factor that the workers and the higher level of management should be independent enough to deal with ups and Order#31415899 downs of the businesses. Sometimes the corporate life also demands to devote more time and energy. But this is not possible for women workers. A corporation is like a pyramid, the chairman of the board and president are at the top levels of corporate pyramid. After going one stage lower it will be found that Executive Vice Presidents, Senior Vice Presidents, Vice Presidents, Mangers, Directors, Supervisors are present in the lower levels of corporation pyramid. And there is an imaginary line present in the corporate pyramid and this imaginary line is considered to be glass ceiling. (Zachariasiewicz, 200 -Works Cited- Cordtz, Dan (2003). The glass ceiling. FW, Vol. 163 Issue 17, p64 Zachariasiewicz, Robert (2001). Breaking the glass ceiling. Credit World, Vol. 81 Issue 5, p21 Glass Ceiling-Wikipedia-Free Encyclopedia. Break the Glass Ceiling Foundation/Equal Opportunities for women. WWW. breaktheglassfoundation. com Woman in Buisness/The conundrum of the glass ceiling/Economist. com WWW. economist. com/displaystory. Women at Work-The Glass Ceiling: iVillage www. ivillage. co. uk/workcareer/workrights/discrim/articls. html The Glass Ceiling-www. diversitydtg. com/articles/glass. html The Glass Ceiling by Re’ne Redwood- Human Civil Rights www. inmotionmagazine. com/glass. html