Glass ceiling

From Includipedia, the inclusionist encyclopedia

The term glass ceiling refers to situations where the advancement of a qualified person within the hierarchy of an organization is halted at a particular level because of some form of discrimination, most commonly sexism or racism.

This situation is referred to as a "ceiling" as there is a limitation blocking upward advancement, and "glass" (transparent) because the limitation is not immediately apparent and is normally an unwritten and unofficial policy. The "glass ceiling" is distinguished from formal barriers to advancement, such as education or experience requirements.

1 History
2 Variations and related terms
3 "Glass Ceiling" in popular culture
4 See also
5 Footnotes
6 External links

[edit] History

Sexual discrimination was outlawed in 1965 through the Civil Rights Act in the hopes of allowing women to rise in the working world once proper experience has been achieved.

The term "glass ceiling" has been thought to have first been used to refer to invisible barriers that impede the career advancement of women in the American workforce in an article by Carol Hymowitz and Timothy Schellhardt in the March 24th edition of the Wall Street Journal in 1986.^[1] However, the term was used prior to that; for instance, it was utilized in a March 1984 Adweek article by Gay Bryant.

The term glass ceiling was coined prior to the 1986 article by two women at Hewlett-Packard in 1979, Katherine Lawrence and Marianne Schrieber, to describe how while on the surface, there seemed to be a clear path of promotion, in actuality women seemed to hit a point where they seemed unable to progress beyond.

[edit] Variations and related terms

Bamboo Ceiling - The exclusion of Asian-Americans from executive and managerial roles on the basis of subjective factors such as "lack of leadership potential" or "inferior communication ability" where the Asian-American candidate has superior objective credentials.
Glass elevator (or glass escalator) - The rapid promotion of men over women, especially into management, in female-dominated fields such as nursing.
Glass cliff - A situation wherein someone has been promoted into a risky, difficult job where the chances of failure are higher.
Celluloid ceiling, referring to the small number of women in top positions in Hollywood, as documented by Lauzen (2002) and others.

[edit] "Glass Ceiling" in popular culture

Canadian indie rock band Metric wrote a song called "Glass Ceiling" on their 2005 album Live It Out, which is a reference to this type of situation.

The effect has also inspired a musical, bearing the same name. "Glass Ceiling" (2006), written by Bret VandenBos and Alex Krall, examined and parodied the idiosyncrasies of both males and females in the corporate workplace.^[2]

[edit] See also

[edit] Footnotes

^ Baker & Lightle, Cracks in the glass ceiling: An analysis of gender equity in the federal government auditing career field (2001), 18-26 [1]
^ Mays, Andy (July 2006). NCA Cappies Album for "Glass Ceiling". Cappies. Retrieved on 2007-04-19.