The Glass Ceiling: Causes and Solutions - Book Report/Review Example

Kannan (2009) states that women have good managerial skills because they have stronger intuition than men, are able to build relationships better than men, and tend to be more inclusive when making decisions. Deo (2009) states that women are essential to the workplace, because firm culture relies upon diversity to be successful. Gupta (2009) states that diverse workforces are more successful because they are able to draw from a larger pool of talent than less diverse workforces. This is because talent is gender-blind (Gore & Chakraborty, 2009).

Yet women often have more problems than men in the workplace, and Nanavaty (2009) notes that women are often in subordinate roles, in low paying jobs and in the informal sector. This is more of a problem in some countries than others – Shivashankar (2009) notes that certain countries, such as the Philippines and Sri Lanka, have closed the gender gap, offering equal opportunity to both genders in the areas of education, empowerment and health. Other countries, such as India, are less successful, as women are afforded less economic opportunities there than in almost any other country in the world, as they have placed 127th out of 134 countries, when considering the issue of economic opportunities for women. . ??gaps in earning, slower promotion rates, and artificial ceiling that limit professional advancement within the organization” (Jackson and O'Callaghan, 2011, p. 68). Why this would be, and why women tend to hit the proverbial glass ceiling, is the topic of this report.

The reasons for the glass ceiling One of the reasons why women tend to hit glass ceilings, according to Saxena et al. (2009), is that women often have a dual role of homemaker and career woman, and this tends to hold women back. Saxena & Bhatnagar (2009) further state that, related to the fact that women are often homemakers, is that women are often mothers, and they are still looked upon as the primary caretakers for the children. This leads to periods of interruption in their careers. Moreover, because women become mothers, they often feel internally different about the importance of their jobs and careers, feeling that it is more important to be a good mother than to be a good employee, essentially.

Therefore, when they have children, they tend to come back to their careers gradually. Mishra (2009) notes that women often have problems after a career break, because they no longer have a network that would help them with career advancement. Moreover, the increased pressures on women to do it all, including taking care of elderly parents along with taking care of their husbands and children may cause health problems, according to Mavalankar (2009). Included would be health problems related to loss of sleep, headaches and backaches, which may lead to chronic diseases such as high blood pressure, diabetes and heart disease.

Women are also in a double bind, according to Saxena et al. (2009). What this means is that women often have to act more like men in order to get ahead – they must be more