Breaking Through: The Glass Ceiling Revisited

The term “glass ceiling” was coined by two Wall Street Journal reporters in 1986 to describe the “invisible but impenetrable barrier between women and the executive suite.” In the decade since, women have made undisputed progress in gaining entry to higher management in corporate America. For example, between 1982 and 1992 the number of female vice presidents increased by 75% and the number of female executive vice presidents more than doubled, according to one recent study (Korn/Ferry International, 1993). However, until Catalyst undertook an enumeration in 1996, no systematic research had been conducted to document the extent to which women have actually advanced to positions of senior leadership. Previous studies had estimated the figure at 3% to 5% (Catalyst, 1990; Korn/Ferry International, 1979), but researchers could not verify the accuracy of these estimates as they were derived from surveys of various sample populations. Even the US Glass Ceiling Commission failed to provide a baseline measure of women's representation at various levels of corporate management. (Federal Glass Ceiling Commission, March 1995).