Concluding Thoughts
Reflecting on the substance of the corporate sphere and the glass ceiling’s prevalence in the workplace, much still has to be done in giving women the equalities that will allow them to rise to positions of leadership, void of any barriers that stand in the way to doing so. Despite many efforts being made to provide insight into what barriers exist, as well as the strategies that can used to address these barriers, little has been achieved, unfortunately, despite efforts being made for over twenty years. According to the U.S. Department of Labor during the year 1995 and noted by one scholar, the Glass Ceiling Commission recommended that businesses “provide preparation for senior positions, including a variety of challenging assignments. Additionally, commitment to reducing or removing the glass ceiling on the part of the CEO and practices that recruit and retain highly talented women were found to be related to perceptions of advancement[1]."
Despite these attempts to warn organizations about potential gains that very well may be made by advancing this agenda, many institutions have yet to create positive and widespread reform, despite there being attempts in doing so, as well as there being organizations present that include varying successful strategies. The lack of notable change is a complicated issue, one that stems not just from several barriers, but a whole multitude of realities that have yet to be addressed to their fullest. Even with the efforts outlined by the Commission, the glass ceiling remains at large in the corporate sphere. For context, during 2014, “Catalyst reported…there was a decrease in the percentage of women CEOs characterized by S&P 500, which was already small to begin with, at 5.2%. The next year, ‘the 2015 Catalyst report reflected a decline to 4.4%, although women were 46.8% of the labor force. While the number of women CEOs has fluctuated since 2006, this figure represented only a 2.6% increase over nine years[2]."' Figures like these cement the reality that there still remains much work to be done for women who seek leadership roles, a shocking reflection on the state at which the glass ceiling persists.
Diversity awareness and training seems to be one area of strategic efforts that, coinciding with efforts made to fight the systematic gap in proportion of men to women, in upper to top management positions, can lead to effects that are both pleasing to businesses and those encompassing them. Another note to make is that, while this work sought to address the issues faced by women in the corporate sector, it did so through the lens of a general view of women advancement, not one totally encapsulating of the struggles faced by those that face the double glass ceiling, such as black women. It is an important distinction to make that “African American women aspiring for senior leadership positions are the least likely to benefit from diversity training. In fact, a number of companies still fail to promote African American women into high profile positions, because they may have concluded that African American women are deficient in the necessary abilities and skills to be effective leaders[3]." This fact is absolutely critical to acknowledge, as the majority of the women from the surveys cited were of white complexion. Fully exploring the deeper corporate struggles of women of color in breaking the glass ceiling is an issue in of itself that is deserving of further exploration.
References:
[1] Jackson, Janet C. "Women Middle Managers' Perception of the Glass Ceiling." Women in Management Review 16, no. 1 (2001): 30.
[2] Chears, Edith Coleman. "Advancing Women's Leadership: Women Navigating Persisting Perceptions of their Leadership and the Potential Impact of Awareness." Order No. 10747690, The Chicago School of Professional Psychology, 2017.
[3] Crews, William E. "Exploring the Perceptions of African American Women on how Diversity Training has Impacted their Upward Mobility into Senior Leadership." The University of North Carolina at Charlotte, 2016.