Glass Ceiling

The buzzword ‘glass-ceiling’ refers to situations, where the advancement of a qualified person, within the hierarchy of an organization, is stopped at a lower level because of some form of discrimination. The glass-ceiling is usually seen as relevant to women being recruited into senior management and executive levels. The concept of glass ceiling surfaced in the U.S. in the late 1970s. The Glass ceiling was not a barrier to an individual as such, but a barrier to women and other minorities as a group.

The U.S. Department of Labor defined ‘Glass Ceiling’ as “an artificial barrier based on attitudinal or organizational bias that prevents qualified women and other minorities from advancing upward in their organization and senior management level positions.” The glass ceiling is by no means unique to the U.S.

Corporates argue that no glass ceiling exists. They Claim that “women were paid lower salaries since they left the jobs midway, worked for lesser time and joined low-risk jobs. Though a few women reached the top management and were totally committed to their career, they did not seem to understand how a business works. It was said that women who did not realize the importance of the office politics, proper channels and did not have self-confidence and the ability to take quick decisions often fail in their jobs.

Laura Liswood, Secretary General of the\council of Women World Leaders, argues. “People often say there is a glass ceiling. My reflection on that is it’s just a thick layer of men.” Whether the glass ceiling continues to exist today, whether it is getting shattered or getting thicker, Glass ceiling is not a recent phenomenon. It has been in existence since times immemorial.

As one recruiter puts it, “the biggest barrier to women in top management levels is the ‘bunch of guys sitting together around the table’ making all the decisions”. In short, when deciding who to promote into management, male corporate leaders tend to select people as...