Why women don't even get close to the 'glass ceiling' in the workplace

Submitted by Broadsword on Fri, 2009-05-01 02:04

Article here. Excerpt:

"Women executives regularly get pushed off the career ladder in favour of men, a survey said yesterday.

'Invisible discrimination' means they have no chance of matching the success of male counterparts, it was claimed. In some industries it was found that only one in 14 women with the potential to reach the top actually did so.
...
Management consultancy DDI, which carried out the survey, said its evidence showed that most women never reach the 'glass ceiling' that is usually said to block their progress. Rather, the experts said, women slide down 'glass walls' before they even get near the top.
...
Yet inquiries launched by Labour over the past decade in an attempt to unmask prejudice among employers have failed to find evidence of any.
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The consultancy advised women to make their ambitions clear from the start of their careers and to accept assignments abroad.

'Don't be afraid to take the family with you,' the report said. However, Anastasia de Waal of the Civitas think-tank said: 'It isn't invisible discrimination, it's imaginary discrimination.

'There is no gender gap. There is a childcare gap and that is not a matter for employers.

'Women do not put themselves forward for promotion or they do not work long hours because they are bringing up children. The reasons for that are complex.'"*

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* Admin note - May 4, 2009: The last sentences are the original quote from Anastasia de Waal as reported. Since then it has been identified as a misquote and the correction notice, as well as the corrected quote, is here.

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Comments

I once knew one woman who was going fine on the corporate executive path and then suddenly jumped off to become a teacher. I can think of another female aeronautical engineer who wouldn't take the odd hours and retrained to become a librarian.

According to Warren Farrell's book "Why Men Earn More", women in general don't put in the crappy hours required for higher pay, let alone be CEO. And that's just one criteria.

And then feminists take the reality of the choices of women and turn around and blame men for it.

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Submitted by canaryguy on Fri, 2009-05-01 20:20

I can attest to the lack of women that are willing to take on the inconveniences. I'm currently in a "road warrior" work mode. I was on a plane 47 of 52 weeks last year.

I have about 50 counterparts doing similar work. Of these 50 (or so) there are about 3 women. I know of only one woman that has done this with any consistency. She's a trooper. At any given time there are a couple women that have recently started into this and as predictable as a sunrise demand that their travel time be limited or leave the job altogether. One woman decided to give up on it and was later picked up for a higher paying gig that also required heavy travel. Yup, it lasted a few months and she decided that the higher day rate still didn't make it worthwhile. She's gone.

Anyone that travels heavily can't help but notice that business flyers, midnight hotel check-ins, car renters, lonely restaurant patrons, etc. are overwhelmingly male.

It's not due to a lack of opportunities for women.

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Submitted by Arty on Sat, 2009-05-02 13:02

I forgot all about travel!

I can attest to the lack of women that are willing to take on the inconveniences. I'm currently in a "road warrior" work mode. I was on a plane 47 of 52 weeks last year.

I worked for a place once where there were was a group of employees that travelled about 25% of the time. I'm guessing that 3 out of 20 total were women.

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Submitted by canaryguy on Sat, 2009-05-02 13:18

my dad, me and his friends all met up, got some breakfast and went a-hunting,
or fishing while it was still very dark outside. all of the people
out at those early hours then were men either going hunting
or fishing, or men going to work.

the other day as i was eating a VERY early breakfast,
i started thinking about those good-ol-days, and guess what?

yep, nothing's much changed. sure, there is the occasional
female these days. but it is still very occasional. mostly
guys. doing the HARD jobs, that pay better. not sitting in some
office, or trying to act as though they belong in a const.
or other heavy setting. free college and forced hiring is NOT
going to make them better workers either. just better paid.
until it all catches up with all of us. freebies have a long term price tag
don't ya know?

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Submitted by daveinga on Sat, 2009-05-02 14:32