Glass Ceiling and the Factors That Explain the Gender Pay Gap

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Define the glass ceiling and explain how employees’ perceptions of a glass ceiling affect the beliefs of women workers and inhibit them from seeking and obtaining promotions.
Glass ceiling entails the invisible barriers or challenges that females’ encounter in the workplace (Lockert, 2022). Many women face discrimination and are usually overlooked when it comes to undertaking senior roles. In particular, it might be easy for females to be hired for lower levels in various organizations, but their number decreases as they advance or get promoted to higher job ranks. The glass ceiling shows that there are things that hold women down or back from advancing to senior leadership positions. Employees’ perceptions of a glass ceiling can affect their beliefs of female workers and inhibit them from seeking and obtaining promotions. Based on a 2021 report by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, there were 29.1% of females who were chief executives in the American workforce (Lockert, 2022). On that note, many women who are qualified for the top leadership positions might be demotivated by perceiving as if they cannot make it. Glass ceiling makes some females believe that they are meant for lower level job positions since it is easier for them to get hired. However, when it comes to advancing their careers, they perceive numerous challenges such that some of them might quit to pursue high ranking job positions. The barriers of career growth and development are strong such that they prevent many women from moving up in their hierarchy of leadership or management (Foley, Kidder, & Powell, 2002). For example, some organizations only hire men for senior leadership positions since they believe that they have desirable characteristics, such as authority, aggressive, and have the power to negotiate. On the contrary, females’ personalities, including empathy, kind, caring, and nurturing are not perceived as the best traits for effective leaders. Such perceptions hinder many highly qualified from seeking or obtaining promotions.
References
Foley, S., Kidder, D. L., & Powell, G. N. (2002). The perceived glass ceiling and justice perceptions: An investigation of Hispanic law associates. Journal of Management, 28(4), 471-496.
Lockert, M. (2022). Understanding what the glass ceiling is and how it affects women in the workplace. Personal Finance.
Why do some scholars expect that a higher proportion of female top managers leads to increased managerial gender diversity in organizations?
Women leaders improve promotion and recruitment opportunities of females in managerial positions, particularly those in low-paying jobs. That is why scholars expect that a higher proportion of female managers leads to increased managerial gender diversity in organizations. For women to become leaders in high ranking jobs, they need mentorship. Indeed, it can be easy for women managers to mentor female employees in low-ranking jobs of the company’s hierarchy. For example, they can train them to gain the firm-specific skills and human capital required for them to be promoted in top managerial positions ...