Recent Job Posts

Sign up for our Email Newsletter

Shattering Glass Ceilings and Walls

"A double-pane glass ceiling impedes women in corporate America,"Secretary of Labor Alexis M. Herman said.." Some companies are developing and promoting women to the senior level. But many women who squeeze through that crack have yet to break the second pane--the barrier of disparate pay. We find that female executives routinely earn less than their male counterparts."

Why is it, we ask, after decades of fighting for a "level playing field" at work, after some progress, both in the law and in the sensitizing of corporate America to women's inequities in hiring, promotion and pay, why is it that women are still marching uphill and the possibility of full achievement of these goals is but a speck on the distant horizon?

It turns out that sexism at work and child rearing duties at home are proving to be the most intractable barriers for women in the workplace perhaps because they are not as susceptible to legal challenges. Change must be accompanied by hard won modification in both perception and behavior, both in males, who must learn to give more and expect less at home, play fair at the office, and women who must overcome guilt at demanding more child rearing time from a spouse, and humility at demanding we be paid what we are worth, or, at least, what the man next to us is making at the office.

Over the past decades, women have succeeded in conquering several rather daunting barriers in the workplace. In 1979 women earned just 62.5 cents for every dollar earned by men. In the 70's women finally realized money is power and no one gives up power voluntarily and so began a number of antidiscrimination lawsuits which started to turn the tide. Also, more college educated women joined the workforce. In fact, between 1975 and 1991 women's enrollment in higher education increased from 45.5% to 55%, so there are more of us who are better educated in the workplace now. Another reason women gained in the 1980s is that a lot of highly paid factory jobs, held mostly by men, were eliminated. By 1993, women were earning 77.1 cents for every dollar earned by a man. "In 1994 and 1995, women's earnings as a percentage of men's declined. By last year, women were earning only 75 cents for every dollar earned by men and this year the figure looks like it will slip even lower."

What happened, here?, as Charlie Brown might ask. Are we moving backwards? A careful analysis indicates that women perhaps have reached a new plateau where the remaining barriers might be even more resistant to change than the hurdles which preceded them. In decades past, in many instances, women weren't hired at all, and weren't promoted to higher positions. Some abuses were so blatant they could hardly be brushed aside and through the intervention of the courts, many have been remedied. Women are hired today but they aren't necessarily paid as much. In fact, that is the first Catch 22 in which, as women move up the corporate ladder, their relative salaries are actually driven lower."Women in executive, managerial and administrative jobs earn only 69.2 cents earned by their male counterparts, which is significantly lower than the 75 cents for women generally." So there is both a wage gap and a gender gap in the upper echelons of management. In fact, women may make it to upper level management but rarely to the top level, which is still an almost all male club.

Consider this, for a moment, in terms of power and influence. "Women as a group are lower on the company totem pole (so) they lose out on the prerogative to bestow bonuses, to distribute raises, and to hire, fire, transfer and promote. Such power remains the preserve of men." according to " Low Ceiling", How women are held back by sexism at work and child rearing duties at home " an article by Gene Epstein in Barron's which quotes Golden West Financial Chief Executive Marion Sadler as noting,"The people who are in a position of authority promote after their own image."

That statement, generally speaking, defines one of the two central problems and tells women where we are today. Put another way, men promote men. Why? Because they feel comfortable with them, they can go out to drink with them, play golf with them, talk with no inhibitions around them, and they don't have to explain them to their wives. They can bond. Call it sexism or chavinism, antiquated or narrow, it's still there and women must address it.

The strategy to overcome this must be women networking together and mentoring each other. The reason is simple: most men will not mentor you unless you are their daughter or a friend's daughter. Women will. Any woman who's at or near the top has inevitably worked closely with male colleagues because that's who is at the top. Of course, one can learn from one's male colleagues, but that's not the same as a mentoring relationship. Although a male executive occassionally will mentor a female employee, the statistics overwhelmingly support the notion that it is largely women who are willing to enter into a safe, nurturing work relationship of showing another woman employee the ropes and how things "really work".

Those few women at the top are as busy and stressed as top male executives, in addition to which, they probably feel pressed to work harder and produce more than their male counterparts and have a greater load of child rearing duties as well. None the less, it is hoped that, some of those top women will take the time to mentor, perhaps in a structured setting which will allow them to mentor groups or teams of women whether by electronic forum or teaching or some other method.

For those women just entering the work force, or attempting to move from middle management to upper management, one must seek more, push for more and demand more. One must look for companies who are family friendly and women friendly. Knowing the percentage of women in upper management and on the board of directors will give you an Xray into the thinking of that company regarding women's equal cabilities. Network, mentor, and work with other women leaders, if you want to progress.

The second barrier women must overcome is "child rearing duties at home". This is particularly tricky as most women are , by nature, more nurturing and more committed to caring for both children and elders. Men tend to not only assume this is "women's work" but, perhaps unconsciously, turn their care giving side against women in the workplace by use of such cliches as "women are distracted by motherhood, not sufficiently committed to work, unable to travel or work over time", all of which have been proved untrue by various studies, many of which have been conducted by Catalyst.

The fact is men don't volunteer to share 1/2 the workload for children or elders and women must demand it. Working is a full time job. If both you and a spouse have full time careers, demand that you both do 1 1/2 jobs, instead of leaving the wife with what amounts to two full time jobs: full time work and full time parenting. Off load some of the domestic duties by determining to pay for more of them: pick up, delivery, dinners out, personal shoppers, ordering online, whatever it takes. Don't accept; communicate, work it out, think of it as a challenge you must solve just as you do at work. Push your company, your industry, for more and better day care and elder care.

Both of these barriers -- stereotypical attitudes and the child and elder care issue--can be overcome, dismantled, solved. Women must become what they need to become to win this battle. We've proved over the last decades we can work within the system for change. Maybe now it's time to change the system.

As Lynda Obst, producer of "Sleepless in Seattle" recently noted "Women will fight for everyone but themselves. Women need to learn to demand more, negotiate better and tougher and walk away when the money's not right." Men will. Women can and must. Negotiate for equal child rearing duties at home, child care help from your company. Don't keep trying to do your job better and better. Go for the power. Get in the executive suite, then supervise someone else doing your (old) job better and better. And when you get there, remember: hire a women, give her a chance, and pay her as you would have liked to have been paid: 100 cents on the dollar for a man doing the same work.

Care and Equality: Inventing a New Family Politics

The Glass Ceiling Today

The 76-cents Wage Gap

The Glass Cliff Phenomenon

Crossroads for Women - New Context, New Opportunities -Why Business Should Care

Why Should The Rest Of Us Want More Women At The Top?

Changing The Landscape for Women - How You Can Help

How Advancing Women Can Help Level The Playing Field