U.S Women in the 20th Century to the present

Introduction

Gender plays a huge role in workplace 'success' and can be a big challenge especially if the employee is a woman in a male dominated workplace or career. No matter how 'hard-nosed,' 'ruthless,' 'workaholic' a woman may be, or how much personal success she achieves, there will always tend to be some type of obstacle to keep her from getting completely to the top of the corporate ladder. She must also still fight stereotypes that undermines her confidence or limits her potential. Since the early 20th century, women and minorities have sought equal opportunities in education and in the labor force with little success. These obstacles or barriers are all known as the glass ceiling.

When speaking of the glass ceiling, a reference is being made to an invisible, artificial barrier that prevents qualified individuals from advancing within their organization and reaching full potential. The glass ceiling describes the point beyond when women managers and executives are not promoted. These barriers result from institutional and psychological practices.

The glass ceiling exists and is evident in three different levels. These levels are: Apprenticeship, The Pipeline and Alice in Wonderland. Although not every organization has all three levels, one level could sometimes be more predominant in one part of an organization and not in another.

Apprenticeship

Women in the United States have been admitted into apprenticeship programs in large numbers, for so many years, that it is seemingly easy for young women to believe and for management to assert that discrimination is obsolete, and that the glass ceiling is either a myth or a subject that will automatically decay over time. The glass ceiling at the level of apprenticeship does exist and although the immediate economic consequences are not attention getting, meaning that very few apprentices sue, there are still serious long-term implications for many companies.

Every industry has its own version of an apprenticeship and the simple way to determine the boundary of apprenticeship is to find where in a particular company or organization, the line is that must be crossed before an individual is ?in the pack? to be considered for management or leadership.

The Pipeline

The second level of the glass ceiling is the Pipeline. The Pipeline is the range of jobs that are post-apprenticeship, but prior to senior or top management. Top manage is defined as officers of a corporation and senior management as executives who report directly to top management.

Because there are a great number of women and minorities that have made it beyond the Pipeline, people often question whether the glass ceiling ?really exists? at this level. The simplest way to show the existence of the glass ceiling at this second level is to look at some basic statistics. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the ratio of men to women in all managerial positions is 1.4 to 1 and the ratio of men to women is 20 to 1.

Alice in Wonderland

The third level of the glass ceiling is called Alice in ...