Does the Glass Ceiling Still Exist?

For a long time, women have run into a “glass ceiling,” when seeking advancement in the corporate and business world. The glass ceiling is not a stated policy. In fact, it is almost an invisible barrier. It may appear to others not to even exist. Nevertheless, women who hit the glass ceiling know very well when they run into it.

Successes

Some women have been able to break through the glass ceiling to rise to the chief executive level at the companies of Facebook, General Motors, and IBM. Those are the rare ones. Anti-discrimination and sexual harassment laws also improved the workplace environment for women. However, there is still a long way to go before women have parity with men in the workplace.

Improvements

A recent study called “Women in the Workplace,” conducted by Kinsey in partnership with Leanin.org as reported by Glassceiling.com, showed some improvement in the numbers since 2012. The study reviewed the status of 188 companies with close to 30,000 employees. Entry-level professionals who are women increased from 42% to 45%. Women who are senior managers or corporate directors increased from 28% to 32%. At the top chief executive level, the increase was a modest 1% from 16% to 17% who are women.

Misconceptions

One of the false misconceptions is that family responsibilities cause women to leave the workplace more than men. The study found this to be untrue. The rate of employees leaving the companies was the same for both women as for men. Surprisingly, those women who reached the C-level of companies were twice as likely to stay with the organization as men were.

One of the explanations for the lower amount of women who reach the C-level in corporations is the fewer number of women in line roles that have profit and loss responsibility at the lower levels of the company. In the lower corporate levels, women tend to achieve success in the areas of human resources, IT, and legal departments, which do not necessarily put them on track for a C-level position.

Small Business

The Huffington Post reports that women are succeeding in small business. Approximately 10 million small business owners in America are female. Women in both the Senate and Congress are pushing forward on legislation and programs to level the playing field for women-owned businesses to help them get financing and have more access to government contracts.

Women are Welcome in Las Vegas

One place that is attracting more females is Las Vegas. Women enjoy a Las Vegas party now as much as men do. Las Vegas is a terrific place to have a wild bachelorette party and for women to get together to celebrate success in business.