The glass ceiling is a term coined only recently, and generally applies to women. It relates to the statistical phenomenon wherein almost half of the American work force, women, account for less than 10 percent of the upper management in the business world. Specifically, the glass ceiling that women apparently face is that, no matter their ability or accomplishment, male-dominated corporate America is unprepared to let them rise above an artificial, sub-executive level of management.
Glass ceilings affect other groups, minorities, many of whom have a long history of participation in the business world, but have been denied executive position on the basis of race, religion or ethnicity. Women, however, are the group most affected by glass ceilings.
The glass ceiling started very low in the early days of U.S. economic activity. Prior to World War II, women were restricted to a few labor-intensive areas of the business world. Farming at the family level of production, of course, has always employed women as partners with their mates; pioneer America was a more equitable workplace in that respect. By contrast, the urban work force, growing out of the male-dominated guild and craft associations into Industrial Age entities, did not become amenable to the female presence until this century. The garment industry was the primary field into which women, usually immigrant piece-workers, were shunted. World War I opened more doors and, despite the ravages of the Great Depression, in corporate America, female office workers enjoyed a steady increase, percentage-wise, during the 1920s and 1930s as secretaries and executive assistants. Nevertheless, women remained essentially locked out of management positions in corporate America. The Hollywood films depicting Rosalind Russell or Barbara Stanwyck as business professionals at the top of their fields were fantasy entertainments.
World War II was the watershed event. The war...