Breaking Through the Glass Ceiling
Essay
Breaking through the Glass Ceiling:
Women in Management
In the last decades, professional situation of women has improved. The opportunities of women to get better education have grown, and so has the level of women in professional and managerial jobs that historically had been held by men. In 2001, women stood for almost 40 per cent of the worldwide labor force; yet, they had and still have to be confronted with the persisting gender pay gap and, in what considered the employment of women in senior positions, also with the “glass ceiling”.
By studying statistical data, in her research Linda Wirth analyzed how the situation of women in professional and managerial work has developed over the last decades. Wirth starts her chapter with statistical issues involved in classifying professional and managerial employees and describing the development of women’s situation in professional and managerial jobs. Wirth explicitly describes the situation of women at the top, women in finance, women in public sphere and in politics. Further, Wirth examines earnings gaps between genders and the obstacles that prevent women from reaching the top. Wirth concludes that the growth of women’s economic power will help reduce the discrimination of females in the professional sphere.
One of the main difficulties of the research by Wirth was to make conclusions on this development considering the fact that even the notion of occupational classifications is different across organizations and across countries and in some countries has changed its meaning over time. The adoption of the single ISCO-88 statistical system by ILO has made international comparisons of job classifications possible. To provide a true picture of women in professional and managerial positions, only data from countries with full and matching statistical information were selected.
There has been a positive development in women’s employment in professional work, which shows progress in gender
Breaking through the Glass Ceiling:
Women in Management
In the last decades, professional situation of women has improved. The opportunities of women to get better education have grown, and so has the level of women in professional and managerial jobs that historically had been held by men. In 2001, women stood for almost 40 per cent of the worldwide labor force; yet, they had and still have to be confronted with the persisting gender pay gap and, in what considered the employment of women in senior positions, also with the “glass ceiling”.
By studying statistical data, in her research Linda Wirth analyzed how the situation of women in professional and managerial work has developed over the last decades. Wirth starts her chapter with statistical issues involved in classifying professional and managerial employees and describing the development of women’s situation in professional and managerial jobs. Wirth explicitly describes the situation of women at the top, women in finance, women in public sphere and in politics. Further, Wirth examines earnings gaps between genders and the obstacles that prevent women from reaching the top. Wirth concludes that the growth of women’s economic power will help reduce the discrimination of females in the professional sphere.
One of the main difficulties of the research by Wirth was to make conclusions on this development considering the fact that even the notion of occupational classifications is different across organizations and across countries and in some countries has changed its meaning over time. The adoption of the single ISCO-88 statistical system by ILO has made international comparisons of job classifications possible. To provide a true picture of women in professional and managerial positions, only data from countries with full and matching statistical information were selected.
There has been a positive development in women’s employment in professional work, which shows progress in gender
References: L. Wirth (2001) Breaking through the glass ceiling: Women in management. Geneva: ILO, chapter 2, pp. 25-60. Breaking through the glass ceiling: Women in management. Update 2004. Geneva: ILO, pp. 1-71.