Photo credit: Wall Street Journal (1986) as cited in Morgan (2015)
Since the term “The Glass Ceiling” was coined in 1984 by Gay Bryant to describe his analysis of working women in America, much work has been done to break down the stereotypes of women in the workplace (Morgan, 2015). Strong women have made for themselves opportunities in the marketplace even in the face of bias, prejudice and unfair treatment. Now, thirty years later, the landscape of gender equality in the workplace has shifted as a result of their work in raising awareness. The glass ceiling is not so thick nor so strong. In Shonda Rhimes’ (2014) acceptance speech of the Sherry Lansing Leadership Award, she asked:
“How many women had to hit that glass before the pressure of their effort caused it to evolve from a thick pane of glass into just a thin sheet of splintered ice?”
She acknowledges that it was (and still is) a community effort that gradually erodes away societal perceptions, cultural norms, and business policies. In fact, she gives credit to the women before her for her great success as a screenwriter:
“So that when it was my turn to run, it didn’t even look like a ceiling anymore… I didn’t have to fight as hard…I picked my spot in the glass and called it my target. And I ran. And when I finally hit that ceiling, it just exploded into dust….Making it through the glass ceiling to the other side was simply a matter of running on a path created by every other woman’s footprints” (Rhimes, 2014)
In Case Study 1 of Chapter 15 Northouse (2019), Lisa was one such woman who encountered a “glass ceiling” in her workplace. She faced common institutional gender bias barriers in promotion systems, in mentoring, in training, and in lack of high-level accountability within the company for equal employment opportunity issues.
She had to compete against a pervasive gender bias that assumed that she was not as competent or knew as much as the others simply because she was a woman. Despite the fact that she counseled other staff and peers on issues in the business, she was the only one singled out in staff meetings that needed to be “brought up to date” (pg. 417). She also encountered a barrier Northouse (2019, pg. 406) would call “human capital”. Though she had the same training and experience, she was excluded from developmental opportunities and mentorship relationships. She saw men be given the opportunities she should have had access to, and her own mentorship of others was overlooked. She was not supported to grow in her organization. Her organization valued homogenous replication, by doing things the way they always have – by having men hold upper level management positions. They stated that “there has never been a female partner in 103 years of our firm”, and they were clearly not willing to change that (Northouse, 2019, pg. 418).
Lisa also experienced tokenism. She was the only woman in the firm until a second one was hired. Her gender was a highly visible trait and commented upon. When both women were in one room, a colleague made note of it by saying, “Hey guys – two women in one room. That’s scary” (Northouse, 2019), pg. 418). Had they been men, this would not have been anything of note.
Finally, Lisa experienced role congruity (Northouse, 2019, pg. 410), in that her leaders thought that because of her gender, she did not possess the agentic qualities necessary for leadership. It was assumed that because she was a woman she would react in ways stereotypically associated with women. “What happens if you are partner and you make a huge mistake? How will you take it?”(pg. 418). No one asks a man how he will emotionally respond to making a mistake.
To circumvent these workplace gender biases, Lisa did what many competent females have done – started her own venture. It is due to these strong women who have forged out on their own, that the perceptions of women leaders have begun to change, as they have created and lead their own successful businesses. (Northouse, 2019, pg. 413).
In order to have retained Lisa’s talent at the firm her top executives should have worked to communicate a value of her uniqueness and contribution, as well as create a sense of belonging by being welcomed and valued amongst her colleagues (Nugent, 2016, pg. 4). This could easily be done by including her in regular conversations about the firm and acknowledging her contributions such as the private conversations she had with staff as well as during staff meetings. They should have rewarded her for her performance, and promoted her based on merit. All without mentioning anything about her being a woman.
To engage change in order to retain employees like Lisa, it would also have been important for her supervisors to model inclusive behaviours, and with the input of employees, create policies that allow for fair and just representation of women in the workplace (Nugent, 2016, pg. 7). Policies that would be helpful would include those related to job performance and how employees would be evaluated, receive rewards and recognition, and requirements for advancement. There should also be a policy for discrimination and harassment, which would include steps to be taken should an employee wish to make a complaint against someone. There should be a hiring policy outlining the rationale for hiring and steps to be taken when shortlisting candidates, interviewing and choosing a new hire that is based on merit and qualifications.
Even though much work has been done to raise awareness of gender biases in the workplace, some women still face elements of the glass ceiling, perhaps even glass walls that discourage them from movement within their organization, or sticky floors that hold them to lower level positions (Morgan, 2015). How can organizations begin to raise gender consciousness and create an equitable workplace for women? A first important step is to create more awareness to the issue is through education. Train our young people to be more accepting of diversity. (Notes, 2019). For adults in the workplace, the culture can be changed by creating an environment where employees can talk about their experiences and develop shared language, so that inclusion is more visible and relatable. Leaders will need to model this behaviour and reward those they observe also doing this (Nugent, 2016, pg. 7). Organizations should hire more women, using advanced analytics in the hiring process to remove gender bias and create an equitable pool of high quality candidates (Notes, 2019). They should enhance women’s negotiation power by restructuring negotiation practices to give women an advantage (Northouse, 2019, pg. 413). Finally, as many have already done, more women can continue to make a difference by furthering their education, engaging in mentorship and becoming transformative leaders themselves. They can become more competent and confident, so that they have a stronger voice advocating for change (Notes, 2019). Thus, they create more and bigger footsteps for others to follow, until it becomes a well worn path through the broken shards of what once was a glass ceiling.
Question for female classmates – have you encountered a “glass ceiling” in your leadership journey? If so, how did you combat the biases you experienced?
References:
Castellon, A. (2019). Unit 8 Notes. [Web page]. Retrieved from Lecture Notes Online Website: https://create.twu.ca/ldrs500/unit-8/unit-8-notes/.
Morgan, M. (2015). Glass ceilings and sticky floors: Drawing new ontologies.The London School of Economics and Political Science. Retrieved from http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/64807/1/WP228.pdf. Northouse, P. G. (2019). Leadership: Theory and practice. Eighth Edition. Thousand Oaks, CA. Sage Publications.
Northouse, P. G. (2019). Leadership: Theory and practice. Eighth Edition. Thousand Oaks, CA. Sage Publications.
Nugent, J., Pollack, A. & D. Travis, (2016). The Day to day experiences of workplace inclusion and exclusion. Catalyst. Retrieved from https://www.catalyst.org/system/files/the_day_to_day_experiences_of_workplace_inclusion_and_exclusion.pdf
Rhimes, S. (2014). I Didn’t Break the Glass Ceiling. GlassCeiling.com. Retrived from http://glassceiling.com/shonda-rhimes-i-didnt-break-the-glass-ceiling/