ETH

The Glass Ceiling

Pizza Hut is a full service restaurant . Logically , more women should be employed at the service level because they generally have better personality than men in terms of customer interaction . And this is the state of things as far as I can observe . However , at management ranks the female executives are less . That fact never bothered me until I read about the glass ceiling

The advancement of female employees to ranks of higher responsibility was never an issue in the company . It never occurred to me that there

was a problem with regard to promoting men and women . I just generalized that the promotions are based on work output and the males generally have better output . And I do not hear any complains from women saying that they have been discriminated against when it came to promotions

As I researched about the glass ceiling , I found some literature which somehow supports my generalizations but with a twist . What I discovered was that the glass ceiling does exist . However , it is not because of discrimination . Rather , it is because of preconceived ideas about women and how they have been traditionally viewed in society . The discrimination is not intentional

According to the International Labor Office , a factor hindering women 's progression in the workplace hierarchy concerns the traditional sex stereotyping of women as passive and timid , which

is at odds with stereotypes of leadership where the indispensable qualities for success are seen as predominantly male ' attitudes (aggression , competitiveness , decisiveness and forcefulness . These stereotypes are formed through observation of successful role models who have historically been men

Thus , it is society 's culture that impedes on women 's career development . However , though society and culture may pose these restrictions , women do not complain because they are amenable to these restrictions . According to a Psychologist Warren Farrell , women enter into those areas (industries where the glass ceiling is unbreakable because they are the most fulfilling . Men enter them because they feel they need to take on the responsibility of providing for the family , and the way they earn love is to earn money (quoted by Merritt . Men face a different set of challenges than women in choosing to pursue a career dominated by the opposite sex , since for men , passion for the work is often not as powerful a motivator as the bottom line : salary (id . And so , as it turns out , their attitude towards promotions gives them the better end

The glass ceiling is mostly because of motivation . Men tend to succeed more in the upper level positions of a company because their end goal is to earn more money . Women want those positions because they are fulfilling . So , when they are denied such positions , they consider it as personal attacks

Perhaps another way to look at the glass ceiling is looking at it at the reverse angle . Glass ceilings do exist against men in certain jobs Men seem to be discriminated in female-dominated industries like nursing and child care...