Breaking the Glass Ceiling

Course Project

Breaking the Glass Ceiling

HR594 Strategic Staffing

Professor Travis Deur

Keller Graduate School of Management

October 21,2012

Introduction

For too many women and discrimination still plays a role in the jobs they get, the wages they are paid, and the promotions they receive. The base of this paper is on the ‘glass ceiling’ metaphor, which is the invisible barriers women experience in their rising career, which prevents them from reaching the top of an organization or making it difficult to get there. Even though we have come a long way from how it was fifty years ago it’s undeniable that women still today are not accepted as an equal. Most women seem under-represented in upper management levels in many companies and getting paid less for the same work done by men

Politics and human rights policy have changed significantly throughout the second half of the twentieth century, notably in relation to attitudes about race, gender, and sexuality, and although they have nurtured a particular vision of social justice. Unfortunately, not all the problems of equal opportunities at the workplace have been solved. For female employees, glass ceiling proposes great opportunities to be equally treated and protected (to some extent). During half a century, “breaking glass ceiling” policies have proved their effectiveness, but cannot “abolish” gender and racial inequalities. For this reason, training and promotion activities as a part of “breaking glass ceiling” policies are vital for successful organizational performance.

The significance of “breaking glass ceiling” policies is that it gives women opportunities to be promoted and highly paid, occupy high administrative posts according to their skills and professionalism. Findings were provided by Federal Glass Ceiling Commission and revealed that “95 percent of senior level managers are men and of that 95 percent, 97...