meaning that, in 2009, female full-time, year long (FYTR) workers earned 77% as much as

male FTYR workers.

WOMEN
Are women still faced with a glass ceiling?
Several reasons can account for this situation:
The expression “the glass ceiling” first appeared in the Wall Street Journal in 1986 and
was then used in the title of an academic article by A.M. Morrison and others published in First of all the traditional role distribution between « stay-at-home » mums and
1987 entitled “Breaking the Glass Ceiling: Can Women Reach the Top of America's « breadwinner » dads still serves as some justification for the gender pay gap in some
Largest Corporations?” workplaces. Moreover in 2005 Ransom and Oaxaca showed that women appear to be less
pay-sensitive than men, and therefore employers take advantage of this and discriminate
The glass ceiling refers to the unseen, yet unreachable barrier that keeps minorities and women. There is also the fact that when on maternity leaves; women lose out to men in
women from rising to the upper rungs of the corporate ladder, regardless of their the intense competition that leads to high salaries and lavish bonuses.
qualifications or achievements
In 1991 the American government set up The Glass Ceiling Commission which was a 2 Against that, background bold moves (démarches courageuses) have been
member body appointed by the American President and Congressional leaders and
made to impose gender equality on male dominated business and political
chaired by the Secretary of Labor. Created as part of the Civil Rights Act of 1991, the
worlds.
Commission worked to identify glass-ceiling barriers and expand practices and policies that
promoted employment opportunities for the advancement of minorities and women into
According to the 2008 edition of the Employment Outlook report by the OECD, almost all
positions of responsibility in the private sector.
OECD countries have established laws to combat discrimination on grounds of gender. For
The Glass Ceiling Commission “completed its mandate” in 1996 and was disbanded.
example IN 2012 Canada set up a government program to encourage female participation
on corporate boards. Overall, employers should encourage fathers to share the parenting
Needless to say, the problem did not disappear with it.
load by allowing flexible time and paternity leave and corporations should stop valuing
continuity of service so highly. Both these measures would reduce the impact of parental
In September 2008, the Equality and Human Rights Commission argued that British
leave and help tap into the large and well-educated female workforce
women were actually encountering not so much a glass ceiling as one made of reinforced
concrete (béton armé) when trying to make a career move upwards either in business or in
But some women make it to the top
politics. The Sex and Power report published by the watchdog showed a drop in the
number of women attaining top jobs in Britain. Women only hold 11% FTSE 100
Margaret Thatcher once famously said, “If you want anything said, ask a man. If you want
directorships. In America only 5% of Fortune 500 companies have a female CEO.
something done, ask a woman.” In 2014 the number of Fortune 500 women CEOs reached
historic high, with 24 female CEOs, more than at any point since fortune started compiling
Moreover when women make it to the top, the « gender pay gap » usually prevents them
executive gender in 1998. Mary Barra is one of them. She has been the Chief Executive
from being paid as much as men, even for the equivalent job. On September 20th, 2014,
Officer of General Motors since January 2014, becoming the first of a major global
Emma Watson gave an impassioned speech on feminism and gender at the U.N.
automaker and was featured, in April 2014, on the cover of Time’s « 100 most Influential
headquarters in New York in which she said: “I think it is right that I am paid the same as
People in the World ». Maya Angelou was a poet and autobiographer whose works
my male counterparts “. In the USA The female-to-male earnings ratio was 0.77 in 2009,
discuss themes of sexual, racial and economic oppression. She was the first African-
American writer to have been asked to compose and deliver a poem for a presidential
inauguration, and read her On the Pulse of Morning at the swearing-in of William
Jefferson Clinton in 1993.
Mary Barra, CEO of General Motors : The first woman
to run a global car company
Marissa Mayer, the Yahoo CEO
Sheryl Sandberg, Facebook’s Chief Operating Officer
Christine Lagarde, the head of the IMF
Inga Beale, the first female CEO of insurance market
Lloyd’s of London as well as the first woman to top a
power list of LGBT executives.