Women Executives Essay -- essays research papers

Women ExecutivesEven though women constitute 40% of all executives and administrative posts(up from 24% in 1976), they atomic number 18 still restricted loosely to the middle and lowerpositions, and the senior levels of solicitude argon almost entirely male domains.A 1990 study of the line of longitude Fortune 500 companies by bloody shame Ann Von Glinow of theUniversity of Southern California, showed that "women were only 2.6% ofcorporate officers (the vice presidential level up)." Of the Fortune Service500, only 4.3% of the corporate officers were women - even though women are 6l%of all assistant workers.Even more(prenominal) disturbing is that these numbers declare "shown little improvementin the 25 years that these statistics have been tracked". (University ofMichigan, Korn/Ferry International). What this means is that at the present rateof increase, it will be 475 years - or non until 2466 before women reachequality with men in the executive suite.This scenario is not either better on corporate boards. Only 4.5% of theFortune 500 industrial directorships are held by women. On Fortune Service 500companies, 5.6% of corporate directors are women. The rate of increase is soslow that parity with men on corporate boards will not be achieved until theyear 2116 - or for 125 years. (The womens rightist absolute majority Foundation News MediaPublishing Inc., 1995)In 1980, only one woman held the rank of CEO of a Fortune 500 company. Thiswoman came into the top management by inheriting the company from her father andhusband. In 1985, this executive was joined by a second woman who reached thetop - by launching the company she headed.Even though the newspapers are reporting that women have come a long wayand are successful in the corporate world, women are banging into a "glassceiling" that is "so subtle that it is transparent, yet so strong that itprevents women from moving up the corporate hierarchy". (Ann Morrison, TheF eminist Majority Foundation and News Media, Inc, 1955) Women can see the high-level corporate positions but are kept from reaching the top. According toMorrison (http//www.feminist.org/research/ewb glass.ntml.) and her colleagues,the glass ceiling is not simply a barrier for an individual, based on theperson/s inability to handle a higher-level job. Rather, the glass ceilingapplies to women as a crowd who are kept from advancing higher because th... ...mily, women are not as serious about their careers, womenare not suited for top management because they are not aggressive enough andlack the self confidence required for the top jobs - to mention a few.) Thesemyths seem work to keep women in their short letter and to justify the lack ofprogress for women. Worse yet, these myths often place blame on women ratherthan on sex distinction.Men in corporate management tend not to perceive discrimation as a realproblem, thereby making it virtually impossible to implement effective remedi es.White men have ranked problems encountered by women executives as insignificantcompared to how women ranked them. Therefore, without constant pressure fromthe outside and strong legal remedies, the very real problems of race and sex dissimilarity in the executive suite may never be adequately addressed. Eventhough feminists have fought to establish and vigorously enforce guidelines andlaws prohibiting sex discrimination in employment, women feel they are a longway from equality in the ranks of American business. They feel that furthergains depend on getting more feminists into decision-making positions andcreating new strategies for change.