Course response paper on the glass ceiling

Aleksandr Filipov

Sociology 257 Sex and Gender Roles

Course response paper

            For our course response our group was assigned the topic of class inequality. I was very happy to have this topic seeing as how most of what we have studied throughout the semester has had to do with inequality. As a group we chose to focus on the Sharon Hays article called “Pyramids of Inequality”. This article focuses on the state of welfare in this country as well as many stereotypes that are associated with being on welfare. As my personal topic I chose to focus on the concept of the glass ceiling. It seems to me that this concept is one of the most defined realities of inequality that occurs in our society today.

            According to an article written by Amanda Paulson, women make anywhere between 77-82% as much as men. These numbers have risen significantly since 1980 where women were making around 64% as much as men (Paulson). This increase in salary, while significant still shows a great deal of inequality since the only dividing line in these numbers is gender. And while the pay differential is one of the major aspects of the glass ceiling it is not the only one.

            Besides earning potential women also have a harder time attaining higher level managerial jobs. Jonathan J. Skelly and Jennifer Barger state that “in 2008, only 15.7 percent of Fortune 500 corporate officer positions were held by women, with only three percent of Fortune 500 companies having female CEOs.” They give these facts in a conversation about gender stereotyping and they consider this as one of the main reasons for such unequal hiring practices. According to Skelly and Barger “managerial roles have social expectations of requiring strong technical and relational skills as well as having a common perception of masculinity. Research indicates women are less likely to be perceived as having these male type qualities.”

            The main focus of my research was the appearance of the glass ceiling in politics. While the pay differential is a lot smaller than in the private sector, the majority of political jobs are held by men. As it currently stands women make up 18.3% of congress and 20% of the senate, there are only 5 female governors and only 10 female lieutenant governors. (CAWP) It seems that stereotyping is as big a problem when it comes to employing women as it is when it comes to women that are on welfare. These false perceptions have also proven to be dangerous when it comes to the political arena.

In an article called “The Two faces of Feminism”, Frances McCall Rosenbluth writes that “Bias is particularly pernicious because it is unconscious and rationalized away” this greatly applies to another article written by Elizabeth R. Brown and Amanda B. Diekman in which they discuss a number of experiments they ran, one of which yielded a very interesting result. This experiment “demonstrated that the mere candidacy of a member of a non-traditional group, relative to the candidacy of a member of a traditional group, can foster beliefs that the system is just.” Basically having a woman on a political ballot as a viable candidate can make it seem that the system is equal and bring a change of attitude that might make people question whether there really is any inequality. However Rosenbluth states that "for all its power, attitudinal change has proven insufficient to bring about the ‘‘complete economic and social equality”". So not only does the appearance of a female candidate provide a false idea that there is greater equality then there actually is but the attitude change that comes with that falsehood does not do enough to actually change the system, This was demonstrated in the 2008 democratic primaries when Hilary Clinton lost the nomination to a virtually unknown senator from Illinois.

While writing about the lasting effects of stereotyping Chuma Owuamalam and Hanna Zagefka state that “Stereotypes are important heuristics with which people interpret their social world”. This unfortunate fact is the basis for many of the problems our society faces. People have so many stereotypes that it has become extremely hard to distinguish reality from preconceived notions. As Pyramids of Inequality points out there is very little truth to welfare recipients becoming complacent and lazy but that has not changed the fact that the fight over welfare still rages on. Hopefully more people can get over the stereotypes and see the reality, that people can be the same if given the same opportunities and it is up to our government to make sure that those opportunities are there for those that have been oppressed.    

Works Cited

Brown, Elizabeth R., and Amanda B. Diekman. "Differential Effects of Female and Male Candidates on System Justi Fi Cation: Can Cracks in the Glass Ceiling Foster Complacency?" European Journal of Social Psychology 43.4 (2013): n. pag. Academic Search Complete. Web. Dec. 2013.

Hays, Sharon. "Pyramids of Inequality." Flat Broke with Children: Women in the Age of Welfare Reform. N.p.: n.p., n.d. N. pag. Flat Broke with Children: Women in the Age of Welfare Reform. Web.

Owuamalam, Chuma, and Hanna Zagefka. "We’ll Never Get past the Glass Ceiling ! Meta-stereotyping, World-views and Perceived Relative Group-worth." British Journal of Psychology 104.4 (2012): n. pag. Academic Search Complete. Web. Dec. 2013.

Paulson, Amanda. "Gender Pay Gap Is Eroding, Especially among Younger Women, US Data Show." Christian Science Monitor (2012): n. pag. Academic Search Complete. Web. Dec. 2013. <http://ehis.ebscohost.com.proxy.wexler.hunter.cuny.edu/ehost/detail?sid=8ccd460c-a351-402b-bb33-2f653d2e7cc0%40sessionmgr112&vid=1&hid=101&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#db=a9h&AN=83804020>.

Rosenbluth, Frances McCall. "THE TWO FACES OF FEMINISM." The Yale Review 99.4 (2011): n. pag. Academic Search Complete. Web. Dec. 2013.

Women in Elective Office 2013. Rep. Center for American Women and Politics, Dec. 2013. Web. <http://www.cawp.rutgers.edu/fast_facts/levels_of_office/documents/elective.pdf>.