Discuss the glass ceiling. How does it impact women and ethnic minorities in midlife?

What will be an ideal response?

Although women and ethnic minorities have gradually gained in access to managerial careers, they remain a long distance from gender and ethnic equality. From career entry on, inequalities in promotion between men and women and between whites and blacks become more pronounced over time—findings still evident after education, work skills, and work productivity have been controlled. When the most prestigious high-level management jobs are considered, white men are overwhelmingly advantaged: They account for 70 percent of chief executive officers at large corporations and 93 percent at Fortune 500 companies. Women and ethnic minorities face a glass ceiling, or invisible barrier to advancement up the corporate ladder. Why is this so? Management is an art and skill that must be taught. Yet women and ethnic minorities have less access to mentors, role models, and informal networks that serve as training routes. And stereotyped doubts about women's career commitment and managerial ability (especially women with children) also contribute, leading supervisors to underrate their competence and not to recommend them for formal management training programs. Furthermore, women who demonstrate qualities linked to leadership and advancement—assertiveness, confidence, forcefulness, and ambition—encounter prejudice because they deviate from traditional gender roles, even though they more often combine these traits with a democratic, collaborative style of leading than do men. To overcome this bias, women in line for top positions must demonstrate greater competence than their male counterparts. In one investigation, promoted female managers had earned higher performance ratings than promoted male managers. In contrast, no gender difference existed in performance of managers not selected for promotion. Many women have dealt with the glass ceiling by going around it, leaving the corporate environment and going into business for themselves. Today, more than half of all startup businesses in the United States are owned and successfully operated by women. But when women and ethnic minorities leave the corporate world, companies not only lose valuable talent but also fail to address the leadership needs of an increasingly diverse work force.