Glass Ceiling – just a title after all?

Has this term become old-fashioned in today’s rapid changing and modern working environment where employees have more opportunities? Based on current research by a management research group ”A new look of glass ceiling”, it has not. There still exists a gap between the number of women and men in senior executive positions in US companies.

However, this is not only an issue in the US. Recently we came across a Finish article in the Economic Life newspaper with the headline: ”Bottom rock – women are almost invisible head of listed companies”. The Finish article stated that in a global perspective, women constituted of only 16 % of executive senior positions in a specific list of companies. In addition, the board members consisted of 26 % in listed companies and 12 % in small ones.

Many European parliaments support the quota of women members in companies’ boards. For instance, France and Norway have already laid down strict quota laws. In Norway, 44 % of board directors are currently women. And when looking at other global numbers, e.g. in Australia, women have accounted for 27 % of all new board appointments since last summer.

The problem is that there are too few women in top management positions. So what is it about women's ambitions, motivations and expectations that explain why, despite their ability, many choose not to pursue their careers all the way to the top?

According to the Economic Life ,the lack of women in leadership positions can have a number of reasons. Underlying traditions, attitudes, stereotypes, educational choices, women’s excessive self-criticism, the lack of their own activity, as well as difficulties in reconcile work and private life together. In addition are women’s networking abilities limited, and they have a lack of role models and mentors. The fact that things would change by the time is groundless.

There is an acceptable amount of female leaders in the middle management positions. “In Finland the principal rule is that women end up being middle managers, while men take up the positions as top managers”. The challenge seems to be to move up to an executive senior position. So does this mean that women have less ambition than men, or just a different kind of ambition?

According to the Financial Times, the interests between men and women differ. Women might put more high value into setting up a family and they look for different characters of work. “The US's Center for Work-Life Policy indicates how women rank a number of career priorities, such as flexible work arrangements and collaboration, ahead of compensation”.  It is obvious that both men and women care about compensation and social context of the job. But the wage men and women tend to attach to differs.

There is survey evidence that suggests women’s lack of confidence in comparison to men. They are more cautious when applying for jobs and less clear about where their careers are heading. However, other data raise different issues. Research done by McKinsey reckons that women actually remain highly confident throughout their careers, but as they age, their desire to move upwards in the company dissipates faster than men's.

On the other hand, US research states that men and women differ less in leadership styles in top management positions, than at lower management levels. Women in executive roles tend to be just as oriented to strategic thinking and as willing to takes risks as men. It may be that learning to take a more analytical and broad approach to problem solving is a key attribute of women leaders who break through the glass ceiling.

Stereotypes about how men and women ought to behave still appear to play a part in today’s corporate reality. In our opinion, glass ceiling is a current challenge in today’s working environment. However, the issue is moving in a positive direction. What is your point of view? Is the glass ceiling a current problem or is it only a title after all?