The Concept of Glass Ceiling - Essay Example

Glass Ceiling Student’s Name Institutional Affiliation Course Name Date of Submission Glass Ceiling Introduction Glass ceiling is one of the major issues that human resource managers are confronted with in their companies. Glass ceiling has been a sensitive issue for many years. Purvis (1995, p. 6) notes that glass ceiling has been an important issue particularly to the minority and women in the society. Glass ceiling is a concept first coined by Carol Hymowitz and Timothy Schellhardt in their 1986 article on the Wall Street Journal, where they defined the term as workplace barriers that bar American women from advancing in their carriers. According to the authors, there were a number of barriers that prevent women from advancing in their careers. This was after the authors noted that women were not only being paid less salary than their male counterparts, but are also less likely to be promoted to a corporate ladder even after performing better than their male counterparts (Wrigley 2008, p. 76). Additionally, the concern of the authors was that women were mostly employed in staff and support jobs that denied them the opportunity to advance to the top. Although glass ceiling is still a reality in most developing countries, one wonders whether the glass ceiling still apply in British labor market today. This paper investigates the reason behind the fact the glass ceiling is such an important issue in today’s society, and whether it has increased or minimized over time. Glass ceiling is one of the gender issues that human resources managers are confronted with in the workplace. Griffiths and Kennedy (1996, p. 3) define glass ceiling as the invisible barriers in the workplace that bar women and the minority group from advancing in their careers. In the workplace, glass ceiling manifests in many different forms, including pay gap and discrimination in employment and promotion. Literature Review Women empowerment is very critical for the development of any country. British women, for instance, pay a critical role in the society since they are the ones responsible for nurturing children and ensuring their well-being (Fiedler 2010, p. 143). However, glass ceiling remains a problem in the British workforce today. Historians show that British women have achieved a lot in employment since the beginning of 20th century. In the past, British women were expected to stay at home, give birth and nurture children (Wrigley 2008, 9). However, beginning 20th century, the British women realized that for them to become relevant in the society, they must compete with their male counterparts in employment and businesses. As such, they began advocating for their rights to education and employment. With time, women started working alongside their male counterparts, although they performed mainly lower rank jobs that offered poor pay (Murray 2010, p. 99). However, through affirmative action and increased women education, British women began competing with their male counterparts in employment and higher rank position. Despite the progress that British women has achieved, the continued existence of gender bias, discrimination and stereotype still hold them back from advancing in their careers (Wrigley 2008, p. 107). This is manifested through different forms of glass ceiling. Glass ceiling goes against the spirit of gender equality that requires employers to ensure that women and men are treated equality without discrimination. According to the Employment Discrimination laws, it is unlawful for an employer to discriminate against an employee based on gender. Part of the reason the Britain passed the antidiscrimination laws was to promote gender equality that women fought for many years. Although Britain has achieved a lot in terms of gender equality, the Institute for Women Policy Research (2014) study shows that women are still discriminated against by employees, something that deny them the opportunity to advance in their carriers. Lack of gender equality in Britain workplaces is seen through the persistent wage gap. It is noted that glass ceiling in Britain is perpetuated by employers through pay. In this respect, Shambaugh (2007, p. 17) found that, despite American women currently makes about half of the U.K. workforce today, they earn far less than their male counterparts even in jobs where they have equal skills, education and experience. The most absurd thing is that, despite British women receiving college and graduating with degrees than men, they still earn far less than their male counterparts. Glass ceiling, however, is not a problem only in the U.K., but also in other parts of the world, such as the U.S., Norway and Finland among others. In 2014, for example, American women earned only 79 cents for every dollar made by their male counterparts (Snowdon 2011). A 2014 study found that, on average, American women earn far less than their male counterparts in almost all occupations. In fact, IWPR that tracks the wage gap in American predicts that it could take American women about 44 years from now to achieve pay parity. This implies that American women might have to wait until 2059 for them to achieve wage parity because of the persistent glass ceiling in employment (Snowdon 2011). According to IWPR, found that gender inequity is not only perpetuated through wage parity; rather, employers also perpetuate gender inequity through discrimination in promotion. The study found that most American employers still perpetuate glass ceiling by denying promotional opportunities to female employees. In this respect, it has been found that, whenever an opportunity arises that requires promotion, the likelihood or a male employee being promoted to a higher level job is higher than that of a female employee. Most studies have found that, even in jobs where women are more qualified than men, they are passed off in promotion (Murray 2010, p. 101). This form of glass ceiling is not only prevalence in the U.S., but is a global phenomenon. For instance, Astrid Kunze and Amalia R. Miller study that they conducted in Norway between 1987 and 1997 found that female Norwegians are less likely to get promoted to a higher level position than men (Covert 2014). The same form of glass ceiling was also found in Finland, where women are less likely than men to get promoted to a higher level position. The fact that most employers discriminate against female in promotion constitute top glass ceiling in the sense that it denies women the opportunity to advance carrier wise. Additionally, glass ceiling is also manifested right at the time of hiring. In this respect, studies have found that women are less likely to get hired to a higher cadre jobs, as such jobs are left to male employees. As a result, most employers hire women to lowest rank jobs. A study conducted by Astrid Kunze and Amalia R. Miller found that 80% of Norwegian women are employed I lower ranking jobs whereas their male counterparts take up about 90% of higher cadre jobs (Covert 2014). The researchers found that at no time has female employees constituted more than 6% of higher ranks. This shows the extent to which glass ceiling is still a problem in most countries. Benefits of Diversity management Moazzam (2013, p. 42) indicates that glass ceiling is still highly prevalent in most countries. However, this is bad for the socioeconomic development of a country as it denies women the opportunity to advance in their careers to contribute to the development of a company. Fortunately, diversity management has been cited as one of the best ways of breaking glass ceiling in an organization. Diversity is a concept that holds that every individual is unique in their own ways (Fiedler 2010, p. 167). Therefore, because every individual is unique, it is important that employer not only embrace the uniqueness of employees, but also ensure that they are treated equally and with respect. Diversity, however, is a broad term and may include diversity with regards to gender, race, religion, sex, age, language and disability among others. In the context of the workplace, gender diversity means according employees of both gender equal treatment and acceptance (Purvis 1995, p. 16). In other words, gender diversity advocates treating both men and women equality without showing preference to one over the other. Diversity management has become very critical to the success of an organization. Because the world has become a global village, it has become very critical that companies ensure that diversity is promoted. In fact, the Feminists Majority Foundation (2014) study found that diversity management has become a source of competitive advantage for companies. There are many benefits that an organization stands to gain through effective diversity management. Firstly, effective diversity management is beneficial to a company because it help in attracting top-notch talents (Prescott 2012, p. 41). The success of a company depends on the kind of talents that a company has. Morrison et al. (1994, p. 19) shows that top companies have talented workforce. However, a company cannot attract or retain top-notch talents if it discriminates on some employees. Therefore, to attract and retail talented workforce, a company must ensure that embraces diversity; otherwise the company would not only find it difficult getting talented employees willing to work for the company, but also experience high turnover that is detrimental to the performance of a company. Secondly, effective diversity management is beneficial to an organization since it helps improve the bottom line of a company. This is because embracing and promoting diversity helps bring people with different viewpoints and opinions that are critical for the success of a company. A Gallup study found that gender diversity is not only important because it is a supported goal, but because it helps improve a company’s bottom line (Badal 2014). The Gallup study that was conducted across different industries found that hiring employees from diverse workforce has the potential of increasing the financial performance of a company. The study that involved more than 800 business units from companies in different industries, including retail and hospitality found that business units that were gender-diverse registered better financial performance than those business units that were dominated by a single gender. Precisely, the Gallup study found that retail businesses that were gender-diverse posted 14% higher revenue compared to those that were less gender diverse (Badal 2014). In the hospitality industry, the study found that companies that were highly gender-diverse registered 19% higher profit compared to their rivals that were less gender-diverse (Badal 2014). Accordingly, the Gallup study confirms that effective diversity management is a good way of enhancing the company’s bottom line. The research linked the high performance to the fact that diversity promotes innovation and idea sharing that comes from diverse viewpoint. Effective diversity management also promotes teamwork in a company. Employees can work effectively as a team only when all the team members feel that they are respected and treated fairly in the organization. Contrastingly, when a section of employees feel uncomfortable because of unfair treatment, they are likely to resent, thereby affecting teamwork negatively. Therefore, to promote teamwork and motivate employees in a company, managers must ensure that diversity is embraced. This implies ensures that all employees, including the female employees are accorded equal treatment as their male counterparts. Additionally, effective diversity management is beneficial to an organization since it makes it easier for a company to access resources, such as credit sources, industry knowledge and different information sources. Further, effective diversity management is beneficial to a company since it helps improve the corporate image of a company, which is critical for organizational success. Customers, suppliers, sponsors and the government are only ready to deal with companies that are ethical and embrace diversity (Griffiths and Kennedy 1996, p. 33). As such, companies that embrace diversity stand a chance to benefit from diversity management which helps them build a positive image, thereby making them attractive to investors, customers and the community at large. Consequences Of Ineffective Diversity Management Ineffective diversity management has been shown to have detrimental effects of a company. Firstly, ineffective diversity management is bad for a company since it makes it difficult for a company to attract talented workforce. For instance, companies that do not accord women equal treatments as men are not likely to find it easy hiring talented women (Morrison and Von Glinow, 1990, p. 48). This can prove detrimental to a company as evidence shows that there are many women that have performed exceptionally well as managers and leaders. Secondly, ineffective diversity management is detrimental to a company as it makes a company lose the opportunity of benefiting from the diverse views, ideas and innovation associated with effective diversity management. Thirdly, ineffective diversity management can also trigger high employee turnover that might prove costly to an organization (Prescott 2012, p. 45). Additionally, ineffective diversity management is bad for a company as it might trigger workers to strike in demand for fair and equal treatment that might expose an organization on bad light. Further, ineffective diversity management might create low morale among employees, thereby affecting the performance of a company. Hypothesis Ho-Glass ceiling exist in Britain H1-Pay-gap exist in Britain Methodology To understand whether or not wage parity still exists in the U.K. labor market, a sample of 10 companies in different industries were chosen for the study. A questionnaire with open-ended questions was issues to 15 female and 15 male employees in each of the companies studied. The respondents were asked a number of questions, including their chance of getting promoted to a higher rank, comparison between their wages and those of male employees and the type of jobs they do compared to those of men. The respondents were also asked their level of satisfaction in working for the company. Data Analysis Data gathered was converted into percentages and analyzed through cross-tabulation to arrive at a comprehensive and accurate conclusion. Result The result showed that 74% of British female respondents felt that a huge barrier exist for female employees seeking higher ranking jobs, such as senior board positions and senior managerial jobs. By contrast, only 35% of men believed that glass ceiling exists in their companies. On pay gap, 60% of female respondent said that they earned less than their male counterparts for same jobs, where they had same job qualifications and experience. By contrast, only 10% of male respondents believed that they were earning more than their female counterparts. Additionally, the research found that more than 75% of female employees were being hired for low ranking jobs compared to 90% of men that were being hired for higher rank jobs. On satisfaction level, 80% of the female respondents were not satisfied with their jobs citing discrimination by their employers as the main reason and were contemplating leaving and going to start their own businesses. Analysis of Findings The research findings confirms the two hypotheses that glass ceiling and pay gap is still prevalent in U.K. organizations. As much as the British women have made a significant stride towards achieving gender equality, the majority of employers still discriminate against them when it comes to hiring, pap and promotion among other issues. According to the study, it was found that more that 74% of British female employees feels that there is an invisible barrier that is likely to prevent them from advancing to senior managerial and board positions in their companies. This percentage is quite huge and is surprising considering that Britain is one of the countries that have been championing for gender equality. The study also found that glass ceiling is also perpetuated through wage gap, where men are offered a higher pay compared to their female counterparts. The study found that 60% of the female respondents are of feeling that they receive less pay compared to their male counterparts. This is a confirmation that the U.K. is still far from achieving gender equality in the places of employment considering that employers still discriminate against female employees. However, the employers doing this should understand that paying female employees less salaries than their male counterparts is counterproductive considering that it lowers the satisfaction of the motivational levels of the female employees. In fact, it is for this reason that the majority of female employees are contemplating quitting their jobs so they can start their own businesses. Additionally, the study found that the majority of women, up to 90% are still being hired only for lower rank jobs as the higher rank jobs are a preserve for male employees. This finding is worrying considering that there are many female graduates with the qualification and experiences that allow them to take higher rank jobs. Therefore, hiring female employees for lower rank jobs is just a sheer discrimination by the British employers, notes Anderson (2009, p. 42). Nevertheless, what became clear is that, there are a number of reasons for the continued existence of glass ceiling in the U.K. Firstly, it emerges from the study that segregation of jobs is the main reason women earn less than their male counterparts. In this respect, regardless of the qualifications, experience and level of education, jobs that are performed by women pay less compared to those performed mainly by men. Therefore, segregation of jobs by gender emerges as the chief reason for continued existence of pay gap. Other reasons include gender stereotypes, biases and family care responsibilities. Conclusion Britain has made a huge achievement as far as gender equality is concerned. Although British women, like in most other societies, were initially expected to stay at home, give birth and nurture children, this is no longer the case as British women have taken their education seriously and presently compete favorably against their male counterparts. In fact, currently, there are more British women pursuing college and graduate degrees than men. Part of this shift has been triggered by affirmative action that has happened in the past. Although British women have achieved a lot, glass ceiling is still persistent in the country. The study indicated that there are invisible barriers in the workplace that bar women from advancing in their careers. For instance, women are still being paid less compared to men, are hired for lower rank jobs and are less likely to get promoted to higher rank jobs as employers tend to pass them off. However, discriminating against women affects a company negatively and should be shunned. To address the problem, employers should consider promoting diversity management. In this respect, employers should ensure that hiring, promotion and pay are awarded fairly without discriminating against an employer on account of gender. Employers must also ensure that women and men are accorded equal treatment as this would help break barriers that hinder women from advancing in their careers. These would not only help promote gender equality, but also impact positively on a company’s bottom line through increased financial performance and success. Additionally, addressing the problem of pay gap requires desegregating jobs as job segregation has emerged as the chief reason for the existing pay gap between men and women. Desegregation, however, should be accompanied by empowering women to compete with their male counterparts for higher rank jobs. Additionally, addressing the glass ceiling problem might require establishing an equal employment policy to compel employers to ensure that female employees are given a chance to compete with their male employees without discrimination. References Anderson, N 2009, Flying above the glass ceiling: Inspirational stories of success from the first women pilots to fly airline and corporate aircraft. Safe Goods, Chicago. Badal, S. B 2014, The business benefits of gender diversity. Gallup, accessed 28 Nov. 2015 http://www.gallup.com/businessjournal/166220/business-benefits-gender-diversity.aspx Barreto, M. C., Ryan, M. K., & Schmitt, M. T 2009. 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