The Glass Ceiling Many women face invisible employment barriers that block access to advancement opportunities into higher-paying jobs with increased responsibilities. Some women are stuck in low-wage jobs with little or no opportunity to advance into supervisory or managerial positions. When women do obtain managerial jobs, they often are confined to specific departments with less authority and outside the track to upper-level, senior management jobs. Affirmative action programs help to shatter the glass ceiling because they expand opportunities for qualified women and can lead to higher wages, more advancement opportunities, and improved financial security.
Many women face invisible employment barriers that block access to advancement opportunities.
A study commissioned by the Association of the Bar of the City of New York recently found that rate of promotion to partnership for male associates was more than three times the rate for female associates in New York law firms. In one case, for example, when a black woman asked her manager about promotion opportunities, her manager smirked and said that men would not work for a woman, let alone a black woman. In particular, women must continue to challenge stereotypes about their abilities to perform certain types of work. One report identified prejudice as the key barrier to corporate advancement. Affirmative action programs expand opportunities for qualified women, opening the door to jobs that pay higher wages and have greater advancement potential.