Wearing air miles like battle medals and the token female: The Economist on the glass ceiling

An article from The Economist sets forth three theories which seek to explain the lack of women in senior executive positions and on corporate boards.

The first is the time factor: The cohorts of first-class female graduates have not yet had time to work through the pipeline and reach the top of the corporate hierarchy. Qualifications for a senior management post usually include a graduate degree and 25 years of continuous work experience. In the early 1970s, when today’s senior managers were graduating, fewer than 5% of law and MBA degrees were being awarded to women. Nowadays, women gain over 40% of all law degrees in the United States and 35% of MBAs.

The second theory is motherhood. Sometimes the blame for the glass ceiling is laid at the door of motherhood. Women are distracted from their career path by the need to stay at home and rear children. They are unable to undertake the tasks required to reach the top; for example, extended trips abroad, wearing air miles like battle medals, long evenings “entertaining” clients and changing plans at short notice.

The last theory is lack of role models. In her 1977 book “Men and Women of the Corporation”, Rosabeth Moss Kanter suggested that because managerial women are so often a token female in their work environment they stand out from the rest. This makes them (and their failures) much more visible, and exaggerates the differences between them and the dominant male culture.

The article finally points out that the lower rungs of the career ladder could be where the real obstacles to getting women to the top lie.

Mette Mikkelsen

FEMALE NAVIGATORS