Glass Ceiling Still Persists
I read an interesting article in the Washington Post called, "Office Stereotyping and How it Stifles," concerning how women and men feel that a woman's role in the workplace is still inferior or more supportive to a man's. It pointed out some of the pyschological attributions made between women and men about gender roles and their affect on leadership. Basically, women and men in the workplace still feel that women are not able to take on leadership roles, and are not adept to problem-solving and delegtaing tasks. I think that this article is interesting because it shows the affect of female entrants in certain professions- some women won't take or enter certain jobs, or some women don't even finish higher level education because these stereotypes still persist.
3 comments:
No matter how above all of that we women want to be, the bottom line is, stereotypes still exist and we can do some things to help break them down.
There's a great book on this topic called "Nice Girls Don't Get The Corner Office: 101 Unconscious Mistakes Women Make That Sabotage Their Careers" by Lois P. Frankel, Ph.D. This book helps point out some things women do that really make people perceive us as the weaker sex - stupid things you'd never think of like sitting on your leg, offering to take notes in a meeting or using your nickname (Katie instead of Katherine) in an office setting.
They ought to hand this book out with degrees at college graduations.
One cannot deny that many gender prejudices still exist in the professional world, and this likely does deter some women from attempting entrance into traditionally male dominated occupations. However, I believe that the proverbial “glass-ceiling” has been shattered many times over. One needs not look far in order to find women not only occupying positions of prestige but excelling in them. Also, I do believe that more women now attend college than men. As our generation assumes positions in society, I expect prejudices of the past to fade away into non-existence.
It is my hope that you still feel the same way after you've been in the workforce for 10 years. While I agree that the ceiling has a lot more cracks in it then it used to -and some women manage to slip through - make no mistakes, the glass ceiling is alive and well in workplaces throughout this country.
Perhaps the larger number of women attending college can be attributed to this same issue - women feel they need extra credentials to excel in a male-dominated workplace.
This blog itself is an indication that workplace prejudices against women are in no danger of "fading away." Just take a look at the post regarding women and pensions and you'll see that college-age people still believe that it is automatically accepted that women will leave the workforce at some point to have and raise children. That mindset will be carried into the cubicle farms of tomorrow by both men and women, thus furthering workplace prejudices about women and their roles not only in the office, but in society.
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