Glass ceiling

While there are many definitions of the term glass ceiling, the Department of Labor has concluded that it is most clearly defined as those artificial barriers based on attitudinal or organizational bias that prevent qualified individuals from advancing upward in their organization into management-level positions. The phrase was first used in a 1986 Wall Street Journal article describing the invisible barriers women confront as they attempt to be promoted up to the top corporate hierarchy.
As part of the 1991 Civil Rights Act, the Department of Labor was directed to establish the Federal Glass Ceiling Commission, which issued its report in 1995. The commission found that the glass ceiling was real, and in many instances it existed lower in business organizations than expected. Evan Kemp, the chairman of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) stated, “I believe the glass ceiling is real, that it destroys morale, and that though we have made some progress, we are a long way from shattering it.” In the report John W. Snow, President and CEO of CSX Corporation is quoted as saying, “It’s clear that progress is possible when top management addresses the importance of women and minorities in a straightforward manner with real commitment to finding answers . . .”
The basic finding of the commission was: “Qualified minorities and women are all too often on the outside looking into the executive suite.” Lynn Martin, secretary of labor in the George H. W. Bush administration, summarized the glass ceiling’s impact: “The glass ceiling, where it exists, hinders not only individuals but society as a whole. It effectively cuts our pool of potential corporate leaders by eliminating over one-half of our population. It deprives our economy of new leaders, new sources of creativity the ‘would be’ pioneers of the business world.”
The Glass Ceiling Commission pilot project randomly selected nine Fortune 500 establishments for review reviews that were conducted by senior officials from the national and regional offices of the Department of labor. They found that their conclusions generally applied to all nine companies, despite the vast differences that existed among them in terms of organizational structure, corporate culture, and business sector and personnel policies.

If there was not a glass ceiling, there certainly was point beyond which minorities and women had not advanced in some companies.
Minorities had plateaued at lower-levels of the workforce than women had.
Monitoring for equal access and opportunity, especially as managers move up the corporate ladder to senior management levels where important decisions were made, was almost never considered a corporate responsibility or part of the planning for developmental programs and policies.
Appraisal and total compensation systems that determined salary, bonuses, incentives, and perquisites for employees were not monitored.
Placement patterns were consistent with research data.
There was a general lack of adequate records.

Among the attitudinal and organizational barriers identified were

recruitment practices involving reliance on word-ofmouth and employee-referral networking as well as the use of executive search-and-referral firms in which affirmative action / equal employment opportunity requirements were not made known
a failure to make available to minorities and women such traditional precursors to advancement as developmental practices and credential-building experiences, including advanced education, as well as careerenhancing assignments such as to corporate committees and task forces and special projects
the failure of senior-level executives and corporate decision-makers to be accountable for Equal Employment Opportunity responsibilities

To help support the removal of glass ceilings, the Department of Labor annually honors outstanding federal contractors and contractor associations that have demonstrated innovative efforts to increase employment opportunities for minorities, women, individuals with disabilities, and veterans. The OFCCP Exemplary Voluntary Efforts (EVE) Awards are presented for highly successful good-faith efforts and action programs.
The United States is not the only country facing the problem of glass ceilings. The Australian Human Rights & Equal Opportunity Commission studied “Glass Ceilings and Sticky Floors” in the finance sector. They found that “women were concentrated in part-time, lower-grade work with limited opportunities for training and advancement.” The commission recommended the introduction of career and genderawareness programs, development plans for managerial and nonmanagerial women employees, appropriate training, and examination of lateral and vertical career paths.