Glass Ceiling Thesis

The glass ceiling is defined as “an unofficially acknowledged barrier to advancement in a profession, especially affecting women and members of minorities” (2). In society, in particular the workplace, women and minorities are being deprived of a multitude of opportunities simply because of their appearance, sexual orientation and / or physical make-up etc…. The majority of high ranking job positions in the workplace are occupied by heteroxexual white males. This seems to be coincidence, right? No, this is anything but that, even if individuals are unaware of what they are doing, their subconscious kicks in and takes over, thus resulting in this trend to continue and worsen over the years. There is no doubt whether the glass ceiling exists

They are affected by the glass ceiling because they grow up listening and learning about its existence. They also learn that there is a great possibility that they will amount to less that they dreamed they would. Furthermore, this emphasizes the point of the glass ceiling to younger women and girls who will learn about these actions in school for many years to come. They will be further empowered to be the change they wish to see in the world and come to the realization that nothing can stop women from doing what they want to do. Once these younger women are old enough to understand the drastic gap between men and women in the job industry, hopefully, they will want to fix this and do what they can in order to close this gap by breaking the

The people who say this, are more likely than not, uneducated on how long women, minorities and, yes, even white males have been trying to break the glass ceiling. Some key points that are crucial in being able to place cracks and chips in the glass ceiling include; knowing the values of an individual’s workplace, knowing what values an individual’s workplace values and rewards but also frowns upon, knowing how to achieve promotions and knowing what sets an individual’s workplaces’ leaders apart from one another (7). Other helpful and proactive tips for individuals to follow include; informing their boss of their interest in a promotion / higher- level position, asking for areas of self-improvement as well as areas in their work that need improving and working together with their boss to set goals for themselves, this will measure and monitor their performance throughout the course of their job (7). When women and minorities take these key points into consideration and try their hardest to implement them, the cracks and chips in the glass ceiling will begin to appear in the long run. Women and minorities can also build their network, find a mentor and build up their reputation. To build one’s network, an employee could; reach out to fellow new colleagues, on a fairly regular basis, get involved in cross functional teams and expand their network to one that is outside of the office / company. By finding a