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This post surfaced on my Facebook feed a few weeks ago. While I do think it’s important to teach our daughters to shatter glass ceilings, I can’t help but wonder if they live in a world where this is possible.
Ann M. Morrison describes a glass ceiling as a barrier that is "so subtle that it is transparent, yet so strong that it prevents women from moving up the corporate hierarchy."
What causes these glass ceilings?
1. Job Segregation
Women executives are concentrated into certain types of jobs. A 1986 Wall Street Journal survey found “the highest ranking women in most industries are in non-operating areas such as personnel, public relations, or occasionally, finance specialities that seldom lead to the most powerful top-management posts.” Women are likely to not be in a crucial part of the business or hold a job that marks them as leaders.
2. Networking of Men
One executive recruiter claims one of the biggest glass ceilings is a “bunch of guys sitting together around a table” making all the decisions. When they have to decide who to promote they tend to select people like themselves. Therefore, women are often at times not even considered for promotions.
3. Sex Discrimination
Male and female bosses are perceived differently. About ninety five percent of all CEOs are men and only 12 of the Fortune 500 companies are run by women. An article entitled “Why Most Women Will Never Become CEO” claims that women have more social pressures than men. “...When little Johnny gets sick at school who’s the first person that’s usually called?” However, in four of ten families, they are the higher source of income. They receive more college and graduate degrees than men. Yet, women earn 79 cents to every dollar men earn.
4. Sexual Harassment
According to a survey of Fortune 500 executives, 90% of large corporations reported sexual harassment complaints by women employees. Only 20% of offenders lose their jobs and only 4 in 5 offenders are merely reprimanded. Sexual harassment is used to put a woman in her place making many women hesitate to speak out about because they fear this will jeopardize their careers.
These are only a few of the glass ceilings our daughters will have to face and they aren’t just present in the corporate world, they’re present in everyday life.
What can we do as a society to eliminate these glass ceilings?
The answer is simple, we must focus our attention to the opposite sex, men.
"We teach boys to reject femininity and we wonder why they don't see females as complete people."- The Mask You Live In
As a society, we have feminized important things like emotions and empathy. From a very young age, men are taught that it isn’t okay to cry, that they have to be tough, etc. In short, they must be the direct opposite of women and femininity is inherently bad. If this is the case, how do we ever expect men to see females as their equals? How do we ever expect women to be considered for promotions in male only meetings? How do we expect to put a stop to sexual violence?
One key solution is to start early with the way we raise our boys. We should teach them to respect women and embrace femininity. No, your son doesn’t have to wear pink or be overly emotional, but he should be able to cry if he is upset without being ashamed. He should be able to understand that maybe there’s a girl out there that may be better at a particular sport than he is. He should feel comfortable in the person he is without the constant pressure to prove his masculinity. Teaching boys and men to ignore and bury their emotions has proven to be psychologically dangerous. Not only does this lead to depression and other mental illness, it also leads to violence, specifically violence against women.
Once men and women work together to create a culture of acceptance and empowerment for both genders, I believe our daughters will be able to shatter those glass ceilings and our sons will be there to help them.
