Chipping Away and Breaking Through: the Glass Ceiling Among Working Women

Sierra Nelson

English 201H

Dr. Hamblin

12/07/15

Chipping Away and Breaking Through:

The Glass Ceiling Among Working Women

According to the 2010 U.S Census report, over sixty-seven percent of women work outside the home; these women account for half of the U.S. workforce. Over sixty percent of all bachelor degrees conferred annually are earned by women. In 1995 only three to five percent of senior management positions in fortune 500 companies were held by women – In 2015, this percentage has risen to a mere fourteen percent (Betts and Suarez 1). Women only account for sixteen percent of congressional seats with similar patterns in countries worldwide (Siniscalco 2). Women are climbing up the corporate ladder, but at a slow ascent rate. On average, women earn a meager seventy-seven cents to every dollar a man makes (Betts and Suarez 1).With the increasing rates in education level and women to men ratios in the workplace, it is still a wonder why women are paid marginally less and why so fewer women hold upper management positions. This can be accredited to an effect called the glass ceiling. This paper will provide an analysis of the glass ceiling among working women, who has the responsibility to break it down, and various methods as to how it can be broken down.

It is necessary to define what exactly a glass ceiling is. The term “glass ceiling” was first used in the 1980’s when a large number of women entered the U.S. workforce. It is used to describe an invisible and artificial barrier that blocks women and minorities from advancing up the corporate ladder to upper management and executive positions. This glass ceiling not only deals with advancement issues, but also problems with equal pay and benefits. Examples of findings in this area include lack of mentor programs, gender stereotyping, and the perception that effective leadership requires masculine qualities (Hoobler, Wayne, and Lemmon 939).

Gender Stereotyping plays a huge role in the creation and...