Perhaps you've heard of the "glass ceiling." In the business world, this term describes the invisible upper limit that hinders or sometimes prevents women from climbing higher in power. The "glass" refers to the invisible but impenetrable limit.

This term originated in the 1980s and made its way into the public eye. Thirty years ago, the gender disparity was impossible to ignore. In 1995, the United States Department of Labor published "A Fact-Finding Report of the Federal Glass Ceiling Commission" in which the "enduring aptness of the 'glass ceiling' metaphor" was confirmed. It was revealed that over 95 to 97 percent of Fortune 500 senior managers were male. Moreover, in this 1995 report, the glass ceiling was said to not just be a "temporary phenomenon." Why was this? Women in management tended to be in more "staff positions" than in "line positions." This, unfortunately, does not come as a surprise to most of us.

Have things changed? Certainly. Drastically? No.

In 2015, 23 of the Fortune 500 CEOs were women. That's just under five percent – and almost nothing when compared to the fact that roughly half of employed Americans are female.

But even beyond the glass ceiling, there is something called the "glass cliff." In essence, the glass cliff phenomenon states that women are more likely to rise to positions of power when the risk of failure is higher. Studies were performed in which subjects were asked the same question: if you had to assign either a male or female (both well-qualified) to take over a struggling company, who would you choose? The results of the studies showed that female leaders were more likely to be chosen.

The reasons why? Perhaps, companies hesitate to knowingly appoint a male candidate into a position with a high risk of failure. Instead of putting the "best man" forward, why not appoint a woman as a scapegoat? Findings from the study also revealed that subjects felt appointing a woman as a leader signaled "change" in the company, which supposedly could lead the company towards a more positive future.

Why is the gap so significant? Is it due to the fact that women are "traditionally" thought of as weak, and men are thought of as strong? Or, is it that the proportion of men seeking executive positions is just greater than that of women?

Today, there are several women who have "shattered" the glass ceiling, including Carly Fiorina of Hewlett Packard, Marissa Mayer of Yahoo, Sheryl Sandberg of Facebook and more. Through their leadership, they have demonstrated the potential for change in the face of gender inequality in positions of power.