Does_a_Glass_Ceiling_Really_Exist_in_Corporate_America

Does a Glass Ceiling Really Exist In Corporate America' Once upon a time, there was a very real glass ceiling for women in the working world. Getting a job was hard enough for a woman, getting a promotion was almost impossible. The majority of top male executives did once actively campaign and scheme to preserve their patriarchal reign over the business world. That was over eighty years ago and many changes have occurred in the decades that have passed. One thing that has changed little in all that time is that women still make up a small minority of Fortune 500 senior executives. Many women would claim that this is proof that they are still being actively discriminated against, but the facts do not support “discrimination” by men as being a valid reason. The reality is that after 80 years, the mindset of men has changed much, while the mindset of women has changed little. The new glass ceiling is imposed by the women themselves and the choices they make. In the eighty years between women first entering the workforce in measurable numbers and the present, a plethora of laws have been passed to ensure that if a woman was not treated equally in the workplace she had legal remedies for her predicament. Some of the legislation passed includes: a) Equal Pay Act of 1963 made it illegal to pay men and women different wage rates for equal work on jobs that require equal skill, effort, and responsibility and are performed under similar working conditions. b) Civil Rights Act of 1964 addressed gender and racial discrimination in a variety of areas including the workplace. c) Women's Educational Equity Act (WEAA) of 1974 outlines federal protections against the gender discrimination of women in education. Addressing gender disparity in education led to more women continuing their education and becoming eligible for more high paying positions. These laws and others have made the penalties for gender bias very expensive not only in the workplace, but in schools at all educational levels and unlike criminal statutes, to be found culpable in a civil court does not require “reasonable doubt” it only requires a” preponderance of the evidence” which makes for a far easier case to prove. In addition to legal protections against discrimination, educational opportunities have opened up for women. “According to the National Center for Education Statistics, the number of female students has exceeded male students since the 1980’s. In addition more young men than young women drop out of high school and the number of women staying in high school has exceeded the number of men since 1977. At the secondary education level women earned 62% of Associate's degrees, 58% of Bachelor's degrees, 60.0% of Master's degrees, and 48.9% of Doctorates (Hakim 42).” More women are seeing education as a viable option and for the most part they dominate the world of education. Though women are still a minority in the workforce, it is a slim minority, they make up almost half of American workers (49.9% in October) and run some of the world’s best companies, such as PepsiCo, Archer Daniels Midland and W.L. Gore. With all the numbers showing women taking advantage of the opportunities they have fought long and hard to earn, why is it that so few (11%) have risen to the top of the ladder if it has become so costly to discriminate in a business world focused so heavily on making the most profit possible' It can be traced to a single choice that a majority of women make and a flawed mindset that most women hold: motherhood over career. While women have narrowed the gap on the number of women vs. men in the workforce, many women (47%) work part time. Marty Nemko, and expert career coach and educator explains “In the privacy of my office, many capable, highly educated women who, in public, may mouth politically correct mantras decrying the dearth of women in the boardroom, admit that what they’d really like to do is to work part-time if at all, and only on a pleasant job, so they can have ample time for home, family, friends, etc. Far fewer women than men are willing to work 58+ hours a week and to take work home or do extensive after-work professional development activities during evenings and weekend (Nemko 138-139).” It is the women’s choice to put work work-life balance over career advancement, and yet they blame the men for the consequences of that choice. A woman’s choice to favor work-life balance over work as a priority may seem like a noble one because it is always stated as being for the good of the children, when in reality it is often detrimental to the child’s growth and development. "[A recent study based on over fifty years of research documented that children] whose mothers worked when they were younger than 3 were later rated as higher-achieving by teachers and had fewer problems with depression and anxiety (Luscombe 1).” Children of working moms get more social interaction in dynamic groups, such as day care centers, as opposed to the children of stay-at-home moms whose children are often limited to interaction with static groups, such as play dates. The children in dynamic groups get greater experience with interacting with new people because of the changing roster of the members of the group. Static groups change their membership roster seldom if at all and the children whose experience with group interaction is limited to static groups will be less experienced at interacting with new people without mommy there to help them through it, which lessens their independent development. In addition, the choice to favor work-life balance translates in more time missed from work, more employment gaps in the woman’s resume, lost professional contacts, and a lowered value on their education due to an influx of new information and technology. At the same time, the men, and the women who choose work over a work-life balance, are not piling up gaps in their resumes, not losing vital contacts, and not devaluing their education. The reality is that not only is staying at home with the children not as good for them as the women would like to believe, but acting like a man is a financial plan and investing all one’s energy in the home and children so the man can get ahead at work is the same as investing money to renovate an apartment one is renting. The investment benefits the woman as long as the man is still in the picture, and walks right out the door if the man does. Though many would lay the blame for all of these issues at the feet of the men, it is the women who make these choices. They choose the men, they choose to have children with them, and they choose to still believe that staying at home with the children is a luxury to be treasured instead of the indentured servitude it is. There are two full generations of American children who have grown to adulthood in a society where women have the options and the opportunities to be more than just wives and mothers, for them blaming the male hegemony is a logical fallacy born of outdated reasoning. When the women accept that choosing the work-life balance priority over work priority is the last lingering source of the glass ceiling, the glass ceiling will shatter with a finality that will be heard around the world. Works Cited 1. Hakim, Catherine (2000). Work-Lifestyle Choices in the 21st Century. Oxford Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press. 2. Luscombe, Belinda. "Working Moms' Kids Turn Out Fine, 50 Years of Research Says." Time Healthland 18 October 2010: 1. Web. 3 Mar 2011. . 3. Nemko, Marty. "Men Are More Successful Because They Make Their Careers a Priority." Male and Female Roles. Ed. Karen Miller. Farmington Hills, MI: Greenhaven Press, 2010. Print.