The Barrier of the Glass Ceiling for Women

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 effo

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tant business skill that provides exposure for upward mobility and increased client contact. Women at Deloitte & Touche LLP, one of America's largest accounting firms, related their experience of attending company functions held at all-male clubs. Not only were the women forced to use the back entrance to these clubs, membership by their male colleagues suggested that the women were not privy to crucial business networking opportunities based on their gender (Lawlor, 1995, p. 34). Human resources specialists admit that enhancing the access of women to the corporate suite is much more difficult than opening the doors for women as new hires. This battle is tougher than previous efforts to secure pay equity or access to male-dominated positions: "Determining what makes a great chief executive and who can do the job . . . is more difficult than defining an assembly-line job and filling it" (Nation's Business, 1991, p. 20). Mentoring, informal networks, and cross-training (rotating among numerous job assignments to broaden knowledge) are common work experiences that women in management have only recently begun to take advantage of in significant numbers. A frequent complaint of working women is that companies lack good-faith e

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