How women should break the glass ceiling that exists nowadays? essay

Social Stratification: How women should break the glass ceiling? The glass ceiling starts to form itself very early on. Glass ceiling is one of the most compelling metaphors used for analyzing inequality between men and women in the workplace. Appelbaum & Chambliss (1997 : 232) describe the term ‘’glass ceiling’’ as a seemingly invisible barrier to movement into the very top positions at all levels of employment in business and government, which makes it difficult for women to reach the top of their professions. We have seen powerful women like Hillary Clinton enter high political positions. Janet Reno was elected as the first woman Attorney General.

Women such as Oprah Winfrey dominate the entertainment industry. Oprah has overcome many discriminations being a strong black woman. These women are all very successful and have seemed to break through the “ glass ceiling”, but we still have a long way to go.

In the business world women can be just as qualified as men but something always seems to hold them back. The invisible barrier that holds women back from achieving their goals is called the glass ceiling. So the question now is how women should break the glass ceiling? Scott Taylor, an assistant professor at the University of New Mexico Anderson School of Management have conducted a new study that claims women themselves have imposed their own glass ceiling from a survey that revealed female managers are more than three times as likely as their male counterparts to underrate their bosses’ opinions of their job performance.

(Scott Taylor, 2005) I strongly disagree with the statement made by S. Why the study have to questions precisely why women seem to underestimate their performance ratings, or if the poor-evaluations could itself actually be a result of the glass ceiling, rather than the cause. It is true that things are getting better for women in the workplace. They are beginning to make little cracks in the glass ceiling, but things are still no where near to being equal. In order for that to happen, men and women need to work together as a team.

Men, as well as women, have to do their part. They both must first believe that women are equal to men, and then they must act upon it. It is possible. The glass ceiling can mean different things to different people. I do not feel that women and other minorities should be given anything that is not deserved. Discrimination will never be totally abolished, because it has been handed down for generations.

The only way to break the glass ceiling is through actions, not words. We have so much more control over the glass ceilings inside our brains than the glass ceilings in our environment. And my belief is that any transformation must first start from within. “ Be the change you wish to see in the world” (Mahatma Gandhi), although I doubt he would have thought it might apply to glass ceilings.

Women are the first who need to change in this situation in order for there to ever be a modification and a shatter of this glass ceiling. They must believe that they can not only succeed, but also that they deserve a chance to succeed. Because the notion that women do not belong in the workplace has been around for so long, women have started to believe that they have no place in a career and at least have no place in the upper level, executive job. Believing that they deserve a better job and equal treatment is the first step that a woman needs to take. Although she will come across many men who will try to hold her back, a woman needs to press on.

Education also plays an integral role in shattering the glass ceiling. However in some part of the world, for example Afghanistan nowadays, women are still not allowed to study. In Afghan culture, women are seen as the repository of family honor so the policy of keeping girls out of school was based on a very strong cultural prohibition against having women mix with unrelated men. Afghan families won’t allow their daughters to be where they may be seen by men. But in order to break and shatter the glass ceiling that exists, this ‘’old’’ ways of thinking which are still the current belief must be modified.

Education gives us the knowledge of the world around us. It develops in us a perspective of looking at life. It helps us build opinions and have points of view on everything in life. Without education, no matter how hard women tried to break the glass ceiling that exists nowadays, they would found it impossible. ‘’Education is the factory that turns animals into human beings. If a women are educated, that means their children will be too. If the people of the world want to solve the hard problems in Afghanistan, they should first invest in education. ’’ (Ghulam Hazrat Tanha, 2008 ).

This shows how important education is. Most women decided to get married, become pregnant, and stay home to raise the children, while the men went to work to support the family. This demanded women’s jobs to be different from men’s with less stress, tension, and physical strain. This difference existed because traditionally the mothers were required to stay home and raise the children. Women are not traditionally the working types.

But as the years have gone by, women have become tired of being passive and want to have their own career and own life. However, something stands in their way – the glass ceiling. This ceiling is an imaginary one that exists for women in the workplace. It represents a line that few women are ever able to cross throughout their lives. On the other side of that line exists a world of corporate executives, heightened responsibility and higher paying jobs. This is an area that most women can never get to because of that glass ceiling. In the year 2011, the glass ceiling still exists.

This ceiling cannot be broken until women are treated as equals. The only way that equality will come about is if both men and women modify their beliefs and actions. Why should only women sacrifice for starting a family when both the partners have an equal responsibility towards maintaining the relationship? The most appropriate way of removing glass ceiling discrimination against women is to educate men so that they become more involved towards family responsibilities.

Awareness among men is necessary to make them understand that women hold a similar importance in the society as like men and that they are capable of handling every single responsibility that a man can handle. The time has come for men to recognize that women are no longer the weaker sex. As a conclusion, those who complain about glass ceilings should keep in mind that glass can be shattered if one strikes it hard enough and long enough.