Let’s BREAK that Glass Ceiling

We talk about GLASS CEILING every time we find ourselves in a situation where power roles are reserved for men. In most organizations, the more we go up, the less women we find. It is as if women had a transparent ceiling over their heads that prevents them from advancing in their careers beyond a certain level. It is an invisible ceiling because there aren’t actual laws that forbid women to become CEOs and so on, but in real life there are really a few of them. Research shows that, although there are more women than men in universities and women graduate more and with better grades, in the highest levels of an organization the percentage of women is 10-20%. Just think about that: among 190 Heads of State only 9 are women. Between all the Parliamentarians in the world, only the 13% are women. Between the male senior managers 2/3 have children, while only 1/3 of female senior managers has children. These numbers haven’t changed since 2002, so it is a stationary situation

The question is: WHY? A pretty simple answer can be found in our society, which is sexist and misogynistic, so it is sadly normal that there are less women than men that have prestigious roles. But there is also another more interesting answer that doesn’t make us feel hopeless and gives us the possibility to do something. This answer is the one that Sheryl Sandberg gave. Sheryl Sandberg is the chief operating officer of Facebook, also called “Mark Zuckerberg’s number 2”; she wrote a book called “Lean in” in which she explains the three rules that women should follow to break that glass ceiling. There is something we can do as women; we should not give up and accept that this is our society:

SIT AT THE TABLE. If women don’t do that first, who will take them into consideration?

MAKE YOUR PARTNER A REAL PARTNER: if a man and a woman have kids, usually the woman does the double amount of housework compared to the man and takes care of the baby three times more. Obviously, a situation like this has a huge effect on the working reality. If he is a partner, he should be a real one, work should be equally distributed.

DON’T LEAVE BEFORE YOU LEAVE. When a woman starts thinking about having kids, usually she stops looking for a promotion and accepting new projects even if she is not pregnant yet. It’s important not to stop before it’s the right time to stop, especially because, after the baby is born, going back to work will be hard.

Personal effort is vital, but if we really want to break the glass ceiling organizational help is fundamental. What should employers do in this case?

OPEN THE CONVERSATION about this issue, ask people and especially women about their experiences and look for suggestions for improvements

RECOGNIZE AND CHANGE GENDER BIAS in order to avoid unconscious discrimination. Whenever employers find themselves making assumptions about women’s professional capabilities, it is important that they ask themselves the following questions: “Is it true?” “Is it always true?” “What evidence do I have?” If the answer is “No” reconsider the assumption and challenge it for the future.

REVIEW RECRUITMENT AND PROMOTION PRACTICES, since those are the areas where the glass ceiling is stronger: hire and promote with diversity as the main goal

HELP PARENTS: make it easier both for men and women to take time off after the birth or adoption of a child (read more on our article dedicated to paternity leave:https://feminismatwork.business.blog/2020/02/01/dont-be-dummy-support-the-mummy-but-be-not-baddy-think-first-bout-daddy/(opens in a new tab))