Women Managers in a Aerospace Corporation

In this chapter, literature is reviewed which is relevant to the problem examined in the study. As the proportion of women found in the upperlevel of management in any company is the product of factors which are both unique to the specific organization and pervasive in society, the literature reviewed is broad in scope.

The participation of women in the American workforce is directly relevant to the examination of the presence of women in upperlevel management. Upperlevel managers do not simply appear on the organizational scene. Rather, they are drawn from subordinate managerial ranks, which, in turn, draw from the general workforce.

The history of working women in the United States is a largely ignored subject. Schools, regardless of level, seldom discuss in detail the critical roles played by women in the building of the country. Much information, for example, is provided about the soldiers at Valley Forge, yet little is said of the women who were also present as cooks, launderers, and food scavengers. American women have played vital roles in all of the country's warsas nurses for the wounded, as spies, and as workers to replace the