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Is the glass ceiling an outdated idea?
Women’s careers are held back because little effort has been made to fix the ‘broken windows’ along their career path. Photograph: Alamy
Women’s careers are held back because little effort has been made to fix the ‘broken windows’ along their career path. Photograph: Alamy

Forget the glass ceiling, we need to fix the broken windows first

This article is more than 8 years old

The glass ceiling is an outdated metaphor. Instead we must focus on the cumulative effect of the smaller issues that stop women reaching the top

The glass ceiling is a commonly used metaphor in the gender diversity debate: an unbreachable (and unseen) barrier that hinders the advancement of women up the corporate ladder.

But are we focusing on the wrong issue entirely? I believe that the idea of a single barrier – or glass ceiling – blocking female advancement is outdated and inaccurate.

The term glass ceiling went mainstream in the 1980s when the world of work was very different. Careers were vertical and employees often stayed in the same company their whole careers. Then, conversations about women’s progress to the boardroom were seen as series of rungs on the corporate ladder with many women progressing but never making it to the top. Back then, Margaret Thatcher may have been UK prime minister but women were absent from many high-level jobs. It did seem as if a ceiling was keeping them down.

Today, working environments have changed and so has the challenge of gender diversity. The reality today is that attrition in female talent is a gradual process, it does not happen overnight or when women reach a specific level. CEB research shows that women account for just over half (51%) of the non-management workforce. This goes down to 40% for first- and mid-level manager positions, 32% at departmental head level and a mere 21% when you reach top executive level.

In many cases, women are not held back because of a glass ceiling but because of the cumulative effect of the micro-issues that women face day after day that slows their journey, or stops them getting to the top.

It is clear that the gender mix is fairly even for entry-level jobs but then businesses start slowly losing female talent as they progress. This is a long-term trend, not a case of a mass exodus or even an obstacle at a specific point where female talent is stalled.

One common example is the issue of nominating personnel to take on assignments. Knowingly or not, many managers make assumptions about women’s availability for long-stretch roles, saying to themselves: “Taking on this project could be a high-risk, high-gain opportunity to accelerate Susie’s career, but it also requires travelling. Seeing as she has just had her second child, she would probably prefer to stay with the job and office she knows.” Often, the female candidate may not be given the opportunity to say yes or no to the assignment.

Or take the common practice of companies having a single, annual promotions round. Women are far more likely to miss out on the opportunity if they happen to be on maternity leave at the time of the promotion period or reintegrating after returning from leave.

All of these missed opportunities can combine to make a career in many companies much less compelling for women. Many women are tired of corporate cultures and practices that stand in the way of them working at their full potential or in the way they would like.

A number of women are choosing to opt out – leaving organisations not because they hit a glass ceiling but because they find the promise of a successful career has been broken many times over. It should be no surprise that women leaders are the fastest-growing segment of self-employed entrepreneurs.

So, where do we go from here? Counterintuitive though it may sound at first, crime prevention experts may have the answer.

There is a theory commonly known as the “broken windows” approach. It asserts that small acts of crime (littering, graffiti, broken windows) escalate to more serious crimes if left unaddressed.

Translating this into the business world, preventative measures to fix the fairly minor day-to-day issues must be taken now. The smart employer puts the focus on understanding and engaging female employees just as they start to consider their careers. This means engaging in proper discussions with female staff about career aspirations early on, ensuring there are female role models within the company and making flexible working the norm rather than the exception.

Leading organisations realise that improving the representation of female leaders is crucial to business success. CEB insights indicate that companies with strong female representation at top management levels perform better than those without. Additionally, gender-diverse boards have a positive effect on performance, including a higher return on equity and stronger stock market growth.

But the road to those business benefits will be a long one if we just focus on the glass ceiling. First we need to fix the broken windows afflicting female employees’ career progress. Once this is done, we will find the ceiling much easier to crack.

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