Glass Ceiling, Sticky Floor, Now Glass Cliff: Barriers to Women Considering & Advancing in Male-Dominated Careers

Glass Ceiling, Sticky Floor, Now Glass Cliff: Barriers to Women Considering & Advancing in Male-Dominated Careers

Recently, I read an article titled, “Workplace discrimination: Welcome to the ‘glass cliff,’ “by the Christian Science Monitor. The article reported that new research from Yale University found that “when a person has a high level job traditionally held by the opposite gender, they are judged more harshly for their mistakes.” Unlike the glass ceiling which keeps women from rising higher, the glass cliff is what women in male-dominated careers are in danger of falling from.

According to the American Heritage Dictionary, the glass ceiling is defined as, “An unacknowledged discriminatory barrier that prevents women and minorities from rising to positions of power or responsibility, as within a corporation.” Women still hold only 15.7 percent of C-level positions at Fortune 500 companies. According to a recent study by Catalyst, Inc., gender stereotypes continue to prevent women from reaching the summit.

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