The Glass Ceiling: Unpacked
By Delaney Shiono
The year is 1982 and Ann Hopkins, an employee of the Price Waterhouse accounting firm, is passed up for a partnership promotion for the second year in a row. Her supervisor had advised the first time that if she wanted another shot, she should make more of an effort to walk, talk and dress more feminine.
However, Hopkins was the subject of scrutiny amongst her male co-workers, who felt she didn’t fit the bill as to how they expected a woman to look and act. Following her second denial of the promotion, Hopkins resigned and sued Price Waterhouse for violating her rights, in accordance with Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
This real-life scenario set the stage for Price Waterhouse v. Hopkins in 1988. This case emphasized how discrimination against an employee on the basis of his/her non-conformity with gender stereotypes constituted impermissible sex discrimination. From this also came a term much of the female population has experienced throughout their professional lives – even in the present moment: Known as/referred to as the “glass ceiling.”
What Is This “Glass Ceiling?”
The “glass ceiling” refers to the metaphorical, yet invisible upper limit in organizations preventing women from ascending the ladder of success. Whether towards receiving promotions or pay raises, this implicit practice of discrimination has taken a significant toll on overall job performance, leaving them restless and unmotivated to forge onward.
Origins of the term trace back to 1978, when it was first coined by Marilyn Loden at the 1978 Women’s Exposition in NYC. 31 years and a mid-level manager at New York Telephone Co., Loden was asked to attend after the company’s only female vice president couldn’t make it. Having been tasked with exploring why more women weren’t entering management positions, she used this opportunity to share the data collected, confident the problem extended beyond what her colleagues were wearing or saying.
Over the years, the term has become universally uttered by some of the most well-known female leaders in modern history – including Madeleine Albright, Aretha Franklin and Oprah Winfrey. Hillary Clinton even got in on the act following her first failed presidential bid in 2008 as well as 2016, stating “Now, I know, I know we have still not shattered that highest and hardest glass ceiling, but someday, someone will.”
So, How Can We Shatter This “Glass Ceiling?”
As of July 2021, women hold less than 5% of CEO positions in the U.S. and Europe, with over two million having left the workforce in 2020. While efforts have slowly been taken by organizations to help them reach their full potential, there’s still a long way to go down the road of professional success.
Hesitation among the population has since allowed limited beliefs, situations and circumstances to take over. However, more and more resources have become available at their discretion, stressing how the process of transformational work always begins with the inner work in creating larger impact and influence. For those of you desperate to break out of your comfort zone, Entrepreneur’s got you covered with their three most important strategies:
1. Release/redefine: Think about a belief or behavior that’s holding you back. What meaning are you giving it? Once identified, write it on a piece of paper and then go bury, burn, or release it. Then, redefine what it is that you desire with a new thought, belief, story or behavior you want to adopt.
2. Turn to a coach/mentor/advocate: Olympians, actors and many successful individuals all have someone to support, challenge and hold them accountable. By having a third party by your side, you’ll discover new ways of looking at things that you may have never thought about before.
3. Ask for what you want: Asking requires vulnerability and overcoming rejection. First, be clear about what your ask needs to be: What do you want and need? Then, take action because this provides your confidence level room to grow every step of the way. Otherwise, the answer to your request(s) is always no.
To the Future
The glass ceiling still looms large, but this post is here to help you be the change you wish to see in the professional world. Because as poet Maya Angelou famously said, “Each time a woman stands up for herself, without knowing it possibly, without claiming it, she stands up for all women.”
Edited by Isabella Bass
