The "glass ceiling" remains a formidable barrier between women and the executive suite. Relatively few women have succeeded in penetrating this barrier, in America as well as Europe. Given that women are consumers of products and services developed by the very companies that discriminate against them, it is surprising that more women have not assumed an activist role in public policy and corporate initiatives to eliminate the glass ceiling. Part of the reason could be that a significant number of women are not aware of the extent of the problem.
Many feminists suggest that gender bias in the workplace is a byproduct of gender socialization in the schools. Ravitch (1996) refutes this contention, "Teachers do not subtly discourage girls from pursuing their goals. Girls are doing very well indeed" (p. 1). Although boys score higher on national tests in math and science, girls study advanced mathematics and basic science courses at a higher rate than boys. Boys are more likely to be placed in special education classes than girls. Girls are also more likely to finish high school and attend college than boys. A majority of all college students are now women, and women receive more undergraduate and graduate degrees than men (Ravitch, 1996, p. 1). If girls have made so many advances in academics, why does this progress fail to translate into advancement to the upper echelons of corporate management?
Despite decades of affirmative action and concerted private sector effort, women are still virtually nonexistent at the executive levels. A survey of the Fortune 1,000 industrial and the Fortune 500 service companies indicates that 95 percent of all senior-level managers (vice-president and above) are men (Castro and Furchtgott-Roth, 1997, p. 2). The presence of women in corporate boards is just as discouraging; women hold only one in 10 of these seats (Castro and Furchtgott-Roth, 1997, p. 2). And those women who do reach the...