Do Women Face a Glass Ceiling - Essay Example

The Interview The Interview The interviewee was Bobbie McCartney, who works at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) as the Deputy Chief Judge. Judge McCartney has worked with the commission as an Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) since 1999 and got elevated to her current position in 2007. In addition to her managerial responsibilities, her position as Deputy Chief Judge gives her the opportunity to serve as the Acting Chief Judge. She hears and decides on some of the most complex cases presented before the FERC for hearing under the acts governing the energy industry: the Natural Gas Act, Federal Power Act, the Energy Policy Act (2005), and the Interstate Commerce Act. These acts regulate activities in the electricity industry, the natural gas industry, as well as the transportation services provided by interstate pipelines. In addition, she serves as an active participant and advocate in the Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) process, which is also under FERC. She achieved this feat because of her extensive and diverse experience in negotiation of contracts and settlements, arbitration, mediation and many other dispute resolution tactics, characteristics that can be attributed to her being female. She is a past recipient of the American Arbitration Association Award that she got due to her accomplishments in arbitration. Judge McCartney describes herself as a team leader who is not afraid of taking personal responsibility for the unilateral decisions she sometimes has to make (Hellman, 2006). She likens her leadership style to that of a bus driver who calls to his passengers for directions: however, if the driver gets vague or mixed responses, he will have to make a unilateral decision on which way to turn, whether right or left, and take responsibility for it, rather than drive the bus over the cliff. Asked whether a female leadership style exists, McCartney said that she women have some leadership skills that men often lack: she talks of enhanced communication skills, the ability to listen more closely and respond more appropriately and with greater sensitivity to their subordinates; empathy, and a more inclusive problem solving approach than men can offer. According to her, these skills are performance enhancing, especially amongst the subordinates who are under her leadership. In addition to this, the judge is an “ENFJ” on the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, a tool for assessing personality traits. This means that she exhibits traits associated with teachers, not judges. This diversity of personality has helped her to perform her duties throughout her legal career (Harris, Leithwood, Day, Sammons, & Hopkins, 2007). Judge McCartney is categorical that women still face a “glass ceiling” in the United States. She was a trial attorney with the United States Department of Labour (DOL) for over twenty years during which the department officially adopted the term “glass ceiling”. The DOL determined that without the discriminatory hurdles that women encounter there would be gender equality at all positions including the chief executive levels. She was quick to note, however, that some companies hide behind overrepresentation of women in the lowest career levels. Such organisations fall short of proper representation in leadership positions, especially in the senior executive. This disputes the fact that women constitute 51% of the US population as well an almost equal percentage of degree holders and qualified professionals. Among some of the factors hindering women from pursuing their careers are child bearing and family responsibilities. She said that women often seek positions that are equally challenging but pay less in exchange for more stable working conditions that enable them to balance between work and both children and family responsibilities. Some women effectively become noncompetitive by restricting geographic areas for employment consideration to only those areas where they have established family and community ties. This works against women since their male counterparts are more flexible than they are with relocations, especially if doing so will help them advance their career objectives. In order to go though these barriers and make it to the top in their careers, Judge McCartney said that women must have a passion, drive and self-discipline to put in long hours of hard work. The United States Administrative Judges are not strangers to the “glass ceiling” either. Less than 10% of the judges are women despite the fact that approximately 50% of J.D. students have been female in the last two decades. It is important to note that the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) has done a terrific job to ensure that judges at the same level get equitable pay irrespective of their gender. The greatest challenge that women face is, therefore, not pay rates but obtaining an ALJ position; it is difficult for women to find their way into this discipline. Judge Bobbie McCartney said that her own career followed the leadership Labyrinth metaphor. She obtained her Bachelor of Arts degree from Lamar University in Texas, her JD from the University of Houston and LLM from Southern Methodist University. She worked her way through all these levels paying the fees out of her own efforts. Having obtained her JD in December 1978, she began her legal career the following year as a trial attorney with the US DOL at the age of 24. She loved public service and wanted to perform better, hence enable her adequately represent the men, women and children intended to be protected by the DOL programs. She willingly and eagerly worked longer hours and handled heavier caseloads than many of her male counterparts with the goal of bettering her skills. In the process, she obtained extensive and diverse litigation experience together with several exceptional performance awards from the Secretary of Labor. She became the first woman appointee to be a supervisory trial attorney in the Dallas Regional Solicitors Office, and served as counsel for employment standards administration between 1988 and 1994. Although she got this appointment due to her outstanding performance as an attorney in that office, it was dramatic mainly because she was a woman. This happened because of stereotypes that define expectations about men and women. According to Eagly and Carli (2007) they are not only pervasive, but also influential (p. 85). Her exceptionally strong litigation background made her a strong candidate for the US ALJ position in 1994. However, she got positions in remote and undesirable locations such as Billings Montana despite scoring very high on her ALJ application. She had to sacrifice and relocate her family to an unknown city without proper infrastructure to get this job. Subsequently, she got to serve as the Hearing Office Chief ALJ in New Orleans Louisiana, her hometown. There, she managed to bring the hearing office from one of the lowest ranking to one of the best in performance in the United States, an indication of her transformation leadership style. This sterling performance led to her appointment as the Deputy Chief Judge in The Office of Hearings and Appeals for The Social Security Administration. Whereas this was an extraordinary career opportunity, it required her to relocate her family once again, this time round to Washington DC. In addition, the position involved a great deal of travel which kept her away from her children, a great concern for her. She decided to take a pay cut and transfer to an ALJ position which did not require travel at the FERC where she works up to now. This is an example of the “glass ceiling” that women encounter as they pursue their carriers, in this case balancing between family and work. The interview with Judge McCartney brings out the challenges that women face in pursuit of excellence at their workplaces. Her own story provides an excellent example of the “glass ceilings” she had to deal with in her rise to her current position; she paid her own fees from her undergraduate, got posted in hostile areas and had to settle for a lower income in order to balance her professional and personal life, being a mother. Nevertheless, she is one happy woman who appreciates the far she has come; from a law student in Houston, Texas to the Deputy chief Judge at the Federal Energy Commission in Washington, DC. References Eagly, A. H., & Carli, L. L. (2007). Through the labyrinth:The truth about how women become leaders. Boston, MA: Harvard Business School Press. Harris, A., Leithwood, K., Day, C., Sammons, P., & Hopkins, D. (2007). Distributed leadership and organizational change: Reviewing the evidence. Journal of Education Change, 8(4), 337-347. doi: 10.1007/s10833-007-9048-4 Hellman, Y. (2006, July 31). Leadership styles. Smart Business. Retrieved from http://www.sbnonline.com/2006/07/leadership-styles-men-and-women-lead-differently-but-effectively/ Read More