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Women in the Workplace
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This paper provides an analysis of the barriers women face in the contemporary workplace ...... More...
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Paper Abstract:
This paper provides an analysis of the barriers women face in the contemporary workplace that serve to keep them from advancing to the highest positions of leadership in various professions. Also included are some success stories of women who prove the glass ceiling can be shattered but there is a long way to go before the numbers of women in top positions is proportionate to their numbers in the overall workforce.
Paper Introduction:
Women In The Workplace Introduction There is no denying women have made significant advances in theworkplace over the last half century in American society The followingpyramid of U S women in business shows women have made significant inroadsinto all aspects of the top positions of Fortune companies pic Bartz Yet this pyramid shows a gross difference between the number of women inworkforce almost and the fact that fewer than are included amongFortune CEOs highest titles and top earners Bartz p Despite significant
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Fortune 5 femaleCEOs are rare (approximately 4 of them), but also prove women have brokenthrough the "glass ceiling" of the "old boys club" that historically keptwomen from advancing to the highest positions in their professions(Strauss, 2 1 , p. Lack of significant general management or line experience (responsibility for profit/loss) (47%) . As Pinto (2 9) notes, "Evaluations drive the quality ofassignments, level of autonomy, amount of client interaction, and,ultimately, partnership decisions" (p. What keeps women from reaching the top? Failure of senior leadership to assume accountability for women's advancement (29%) . According to a reportknown as Beyond Bias and Barriers, conducted by the Committee on Maximizingthe Potential of Women in Academic Science and Engineering, "Women are verylikely to face discrimination...sometimes deliberately but ofteninadvertently...in every field of science and engineering" (Lederman, 2 6,p. A report from the Equality and Human RightsCommission has found that in nearly half of the professions they monitorthere are fewer women in senior positions than last year (Too, 2 8). This analysis will discuss thecurrent barriers in career advancement faced by women in today's workforce,as well as providing examples of stories of women who have successfullyovercome these barriers. Second, many males who areresponsible for female advancement in the workplace perceive women ashaving more family responsibilities that may interfere with work than men.As one career woman acknowledges, "Work/life balance is so difficult forwomen. Some ofthese stem from historical attitudes and preconceptions among males and alack of support for female career advancement, while others have to do withlack of experience in key management positions or family and personalresponsibilities. Until them, the abovestrategies can help women get ahead despite the barriers to careeradvancement that still exist between them and the top in the contemporaryworkplace.ReferencesBartz, C. 1). This may bebecause we now accept women as more legitimate for top positions ofleadership or power. Exclusion from informal networks (41%) . The top carrier barriers to advancement to the top to womenaccording to Career Women's poll results are: . Onesuch example is Margaret "Meg" Whitman, CEO and president of leading E-commerce firm eBay. Women's performance in thesciences and engineering does not account for their under-representation inleadership positions in the sciences and engineering. 3).Despite significant success stories of women at the top of theirprofessions, significant barriers still exist between rising to the highestpositions and making equal pay as men. A1). Taking on difficult or highly visible assignments (4 %) (Bartz, 2 9, p. Developing a style with which male managers are comfortable (47%) . Recommendations for eliminate hidden bias includemaking evaluators aware of its existence and to reassess evaluationprocesses in order to detect and remove any form of bias. Exclusion from informal networks (85%) . As Strauss (2 1 ) explains,"The hope is that if women own more companies, women in turn will work forthese companies," creating a healthy process of promotion and equal pay (p.2). Theglass ceiling was a term coined in the 198 s by The Wall Street Journal,maintaining the "ceiling" suggest women are "blocked from advancing intheir careers" and the term "glass," because the ceiling is "not alwaysdiscernable" (Strauss, 2 1 , p. Having recognized expertise in a specific content area (46%) . Many women believe the key to equality in promotionand equal pay is more female-owned businesses. Exceeding performance expectations (69%) . Telegraph, A1.Women still facing barriers in career advancement (2 3). (2 9). Women place barriers in her way (19%) (Women, 2 3, p. A1). Sometop positions of leadership like Scientist or District Attorney seems toconnote male characteristics compared to others like Media Host or BusinessOwner. Conclusion In conclusion, women have broken through the "glass ceiling" andinfiltrated the "old boys club" in every profession. Corporate culture favors men (96%) . Women and men are socialized differently. The top five barriers towomen's advancement revealed in the study are as follows: . profit/loss responsibility), and experts argue thatwomen who wish to smash through the glass ceiling need to know how to"navigate the waters" by learning about the power of money and negotiationskills (Strauss, 2 1 , p. 1).Over the past three decades, women have earned more than 3 percent ofdoctorates in social and behavioral sciences, but make up only 15.4 percentof full professors in those fields (Lederman, 2 6). Pinto (2 9)reports that a subtle and covert form of barrier known as "hidden bias"exists in many law firms and within the legal profession that serves as"blockage that makes it virtually impossible for women to break through theglass ceiling in law firms" (p. This is certainly never a consideration with respectto men and career advancement. 2). Women have a notoriously difficult time rising to the top in someprofessions like emerging as leaders in their law firms. 1). (2 9). Despite these examples, women account for 46.5% ofthe workforce and less than 8% of its top managers (Strauss, 2 1 ). Today's barriers to women's career advancement are significantlydifferent than the outright prejudices and negative attitudes toward womenthat used to dominate all-male professional networks. Despite the Equal Pay Act of 1963,women still earn .77 cents on the dollar compared to men (Strauss, 2 1 ).Even so, today's barriers are different than the obvious and pervasive onesof yesteryear. However, we also are socialized in ways that make child rearing andkeeping the home more linked with female responsibilities and obligations.This particular phenomenon works against women in two ways. 1) There seems to be some disagreement between the results of thisstudy and the attitudes and beliefs of professional career women withrespect to the real barriers to women's advancement in the workplace.Career Women conducted a poll among female managers and found that many ofthe most common barriers women face stem from male bias and preconceptionsabout women. Stereotyping and preconception of women's roles and abilities (33%) . A computer simulationdemonstrated that biased evaluations can accumulate over time. 1). That men are dominant by far in the top positions of power in allprofessions means that they are responsible for the advancement of womeninto the upper echelons of leadership. The glass ceiling: Women and barriers in the workplace. Associated Content, pp. As one human resource professional comments, "Employers look askance atpromoting - of even hiring - women who they think may take full advantageof the Government's overly generous statutory maternity leave requirement"(Too, 2 8, p. Women also face other kinds of barriers to career advancement in thecontemporary workplace. General stereotypes/preconceptions (78%) . Retrieved March 2, 2 1 at: http://www.careerwomen.com/resources/resources_5 9.jsp, pp. 1-4.Strauss, E. Commitment to personal/family responsibilities (26%) (Bartz, 2 9, p. It seems barriers in theseprofessions may be particularly difficult to overcome and firmly entrenchedwhere women's advancement is concerned. Despite the challenges women still face, some excel in topleadership positions, outrivaling males with their impressive feats. For over a decade "Whitman has worked her brand-building magic and turned eBay into a matchless global enterprise"(Strauss, 2 1 , p. (2 1 ). (2 6). As one women whorose to management during a previous generation notes, "What counts as aglass ceiling today would have been viewed as a barrier-free environmentwhen I was coming out of school" (Strauss, 2 1 , p. 1). Some of the reason for the gender bias apparent in the sciences andengineering stems from prejudice. Successfully managing others (49%) . The presidentialrun of Hillary Clinton and her appointment as Secretary of State as well asNancy Pelosi being Speaker of the House show that women have advanced tothe highest positions of power in government office. Lack of women on Board of Directors and Executive Management (45%) . 1-2.Too many barriers for women in the workplace. Body The powerhouse media conglomerate that is Oprah Winfrey demonstrateswomen - even minority women without professional training - can rise to thehighest positions of power and earnings in their field. The fact that theyhave done so in small numbers and in much less proportion than theirpresence in the general workforce stems from a number of barriers. After eightrounds of promotions, the biased evaluations were found to result in toplevel management consisting of 65 percent men and only 35 percent women(Pinto, 2 9, p. (2 8). Because of this, many women feelexcluded because men feel more comfortable promoting other men and doingbusiness with men than women. The followingpyramid of U.S. Other factors also create barriers towomen's advancement that are related to males still retaining a largemajority by far of the top positions in the workforce. 1). There are strategies women use to overcome thesebarriers in their rise to the highest positions in their professions.Among female leaders of Fortune 1 companies, the top five successstrategies were cited by women as a way of overcoming barriers to careeradvancement: . 1-2. Children, aging parents, home responsibilities all seem to be morewomen's issues" (Women, 2 3, p. Still, women must acknowledge they need more experience in some areasof management (i.e. 1-3.Lederman, D. Women are more than capable ofcontributing to the country's scientific and engineering enterprise, butthey are often impeded in their efforts because of gender bias and outdatedrules that govern academic success. However, a greater proportion of suchbias is inadvertent and stems from other factors, like the kind of traitsor characteristics associated with scientists and engineers compared tothose linked to men and women. 1). 2)While women have a long way to go before their numbers in top leadershippositions are proportional to their numbers in the workforce, they havemade significant gains to the top positions in every profession. Perception of management that family responsibilities interfere with work (52%) . 1). 89788 Women In The Workplace Introduction There is no denying women have made significant advances in theworkplace over the last half century in American society. Concerns over women's issues like maternity leave toothers - mostly by males - makes many fear the "old boy's network" is aliveand well in the workplace. Perspectives, American Bar Association (ABA), pp. Clearly in anenvironment dominated by males where males make a majority of the decisionsregarding female career advancement, women still face challenges to equalopportunity at top level positions. Thestudy by the Commission, Sex and Power, reports on a "worrying trend ofreversal or stalled progress" for women in top positions of leadership(Too, 2 8, p. According to Women in U.S.Corporate Leadership, sponsored by General Motors, some barriers deal withtraditional challenges to women's advancement while others stem frominsufficient experience or family obligations. The author maintains that one of thebiggest reasons why this form of bias remains hidden is because it isembedded into the processes used for career advancement, like evaluationprocesses. As Strauss (2 1 ) notes, "One of the reasons whyHillary Clinton was a viable candidate for president is that our society isin the process of changing its image of what a leader looks like" (p. Eliminating barriers to women's advancement: Focus on the performance evaluation process. women in business shows women have made significant inroadsinto all aspects of the top positions of Fortune 5 companies: [pic] (Bartz, 2 9)Yet this pyramid shows a gross difference between the number of women inworkforce, almost 5 %, and the fact that fewer than 1 % are included amongFortune 5 CEOs, highest titles, and top earners (Bartz, 2 9, p. The real barriers to women in science. Rather than being totally related to all-male environments orstructural and systemic barriers to career advancement for women, today'smost common barriers are also ones that have to do with issues specific towomen like lack of training or child rearing. Inside Higher Education, pp. 1)The final barrier on the above list seems to suggest that some women arejealous or resent other women who can break through barriers to toppositions. Women's Media, pp. 1-2.Pinto, C. Women may have to work a bit harder to reachthe top but it can and does happen in the contemporary workplace. 1). Career Women. According toLederman (2 6), a host of cognitive and other studies "have not found anysignificant biological differences between men and women in performingsciences and mathematics" to account for the lower representation (p. As Lederman (2 6) explains,"Characteristics that are often selected for and believed to relate toscientific creativity...namely assertiveness and single-mindedness...areboth given greater weight in hiring and promotion than traits likeflexibility, diplomacy and curiosity, and stereotyped as sociallyunacceptable traits for women" (p. First, manywomen feel obligated to sacrifice career advancement in order to havechildren and devote time to raising a family. 1). Many women are viewed as a risk inkey leadership positions because of new government laws that permit familyleave, maternity leave and other paid time off subsidies for working women. Gender bias is a significant barrier to advance for women,especially in professions where males have historically been predominant inthe field like in the sciences and engineering. Ongoingexperience in key management positions and increasing views of women aslegitimate leaders in American society will no doubt lead to increasednumbers of women at the top of every profession. 1).Another reasons today's glass ceiling and barriers are different is becausethey are not all related to structural, systemic or male issues in theworkplace. 1).
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