The Glass Ceiling
An important economic term that refers to the disparity of women in the work place is the glass ceiling.
Glass ceiling is the term used to desribe barriers that prevent women and minorities from advancing to management or administrative positions in corporations and organizations.
The phrase was first used in the 1980s when statistics provided by the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) indicated that only 2 percent of top level management jobs and 5 percent of corporate board positions were held by women. This failure of more women and minorities to crack the upper levels of corporate management was officially labeled as the glass ceiling.
The Civil Rights Act of 1991 created a Glass Ceiling Commission to address these inequities, just as the Glass Ceiling Initiative, created in 1989 by the DOL under the leadership of Secretary Lynn Martin, had done.
Statistics prove beyond doubt that a glass ceiling existed long before the term was officially introduced. These barriers to minority progress had previously defied clear definition, but by the late 1980s, the phrase was used throughout economic literature. Several publications, such as the Wall Street Journal, detailed the increase of women in administrative and management level jobs, from 24% in 1976 to 37% in 1987 yet recognized "the glass ceiling" barriers that blocked women from rising all the way to top management positions.
On March 24, 1986, a special 32-page section of the Wall Street Journal focused on defining the glass ceiling for women. (The inclusion of other minorities followed in subsequent reports.) The report did much to bring to light the ceiling in the corporate world. Using interviews and data to highlight the issues, the Journal's report was the first landmark publication of a powerful voice in employment equity.
Current Reports of the Glass Ceiling
After the initial report, there were numerous follow-up reports, and much research on workplace barriers is still done today. Read the Society for Human Resource Management's 2004The Glass Ceiling: Domestic and International Perspective to learn more about the glass ceiling.
