Summary Of The Glass Ceiling

A glass ceiling is an invisible barrier that prevents someone from moving into a higher position in their workplace. It usually is seen happening to women along with minority groups. In “Women in leadership: persistent problems or progress?” by Susan M. Kochanowski, Susan explains a few of the factors that hold women back from advancing in a workplace. After reading the paper it can be said that Susan did an exceptional job showing the relationship between the glass ceiling and women. The purpose behind writing the “Women in leadership…”, was to assess the progress women have made toward advancing into top leadership positions, also to examine the issues impacting that advancement. Susan talks about the glass ceiling, the metaphor barrier, leadership styles, and the role of family to support the main claim of the paper.
A Glass ceiling is an unofficially acknowledged barrier to advancement in a profession, directly affecting women along side members of minorities. It can be caused by gender based stereotypes such as the idea that men are leaders while women are the “supportive followers”. Susan also relates tokenism, the practice of making only a perfunctory or symbolic effort to portray a …show more content…
The name “glass ceiling” in itself is misleading seeing as it is not just one barrier holding people back from advancing in a company, it is several complex threads that are knotted together to create one complex web that cannot be broken. Susan suggests that a better term would be a “labyrinth” rather than a “barrier”. She claims that it would better capture the “complex journey toward a goal, acknowledging inherent obstacles without being discouraging”. Based on the evidence provided the term “labyrinth” would be the better term to describe what is happening with the misconceptions, stereotypes and obstacles in the way of women as well as minorities advancing in a