BREAKING THE GLASS CEILING: ANOTHER PERSPECTIVE

Women′s progress up the corporate ladder is still limited by a“glass ceiling” despite the myriad of Government policies and programmes which have been introduced to ensure that their talents and skills are recognised. Reviews the reasons for this existence of the“glass ceiling” and the role managerial women may have played (consciously or unconsciously) in sustaining it by having inappropriate qualifications and experience for the top positions. Women can help themselves to overcome this career hurdle by: acquiring appropriate business skills and know how; taking up line‐management positions rather than management service roles; gaining the necessary experience through “apprenticeship” and “acting positions”; seeking career counselling; volunteering for leadership and executive positions; and acquiring the ability to measure their operating effectiveness in the workplace. Women also need to be aware of the emergence of new barriers to their progress. The current socio‐economic situation is creating different “glass ceilings” in the form of the downsizing of organizations, new differentiated and self‐directed career paths, the advent of the contractual worker, and the care of aged parents.