Is The Glass Ceiling Really Breaking Down?
The corporate world, forever, had has not been really lenient to women. Inequality and lack of opportunities have always been dominantly prevalent in the formal space, leading to the coinage of "glass ceiling". As per the statistical reports, just 21% CEOs are women when it comes to Fortune 500 corporations.
The problem starts with the 2nd decade
Studies have shown that young women foray into the office world brimming high in confidence and ambition. But, the problem actually starts from the 2nd decade of their career, especially when they reach the 30s. They are the mid-level employees now, endowed with the huge responsibility to steadily contribute to growth & increased productivity. However, by that time, they are mostly married, planning for kids or are already a mother. Increased pressure builds up as they have to constantly juggle between their corporate and personal lives. They feel like being pulled in many directions where they have to be equally committed and any unwanted miss-step here create a sort of confidence crisis in them. In such crossroad circumstances what they need the most is constant support from their office – which unfortunately, is seldom available from the corporate space.
Main reasons responsible
According to researchers, there are some basic reasons that aggravate the problem. One is not being able to meet up to the typical stereotypes of being "ideal worker". When a person has to juggle several responsibilities, at times it might be difficult to meet up with the crunching deadlines. But that does not necessarily mean that the person is not exactly committed or not working hard enough. It only implies that the person might need some space till she gets accustomed to all her new responsibilities. And it is this very lack of understanding & support from office supervisors which abets the problem. It's also another major reason why women find it hard to explore their full potential in the workplace.
Besides, often the rise of a woman in a higher position is not always judged as the outcome of her
sheer hard work and merit. In fact, the most possible explanation here is that of an underlying romantic relationship with the boss or some senior executive.
But there are outliers
But, then, there are the outliers in this conventional male-dominated corporate space and fortunately the number is probably enhancing -with each passing year. This includes women not just in senior managerial designations but in the entrepreneurial roles as well.
Big giants such as Nike, Cisco or Coca Cola are steadily embracing women in prominent roles, not just in the corporation yet also within the very communities these companies operate in. Micro-lending is extended predominantly to the fairer sex with the wisdom that bringing a woman into global economy is fundamental for the development of a community and also a nation.
Mention must be made of Nobel Prize winner & Grameen Bank founder Muhammad Yunus, the celebrated. The wise Bangladeshi economist had opined -"We have seen that money handed to women resulted in more benefits compared to going it to men. Thus, we have altered our policy & extended higher priorities to the women. 96 percent of our 4 million borrowers in our bank are women."
In fact, Coca Cola has declared to boost up economic opportunities for around 5 million women entrepreneurs by 2020.
Such a situation obviously encourages the hope that possibly the glass ceiling is breaking down. It's true that the problem is still apparent today but hopefully could be a thing of the past in near future.
Women have always added a new dimension to any workplace through their higher sense of commitment, organizational and managerial capabilities. On a side note, they also accentuate the style quotient of any workplace courtesy their impeccable sense of aesthetics. No wonder, fashion outlets are bustling with a wide variety of classy formal attires for todays confident and smart working women. You can have a sneak peek into women's clothing at STYLEWE for your formal options. There are amazing pastel pencil skirts, straight leg pants that you can easily team up with a fitted shirt for your corporate meets.
