I love images that paint a compelling picture. And so when a speaker on gender in the workplace talked about women and leadership, and explored the underlying reason for the disproportionate number of women in high leadership positions as a combination of both glass ceiling and a sticky floor, it resonated.
We all know the metaphor of the glass ceiling – the image that describes the invisible, but impenetrable, barrier preventing women and minorities from ascent to the highest positions. Director? By all means. VP – perhaps. CEO? Hold on there! Board member? Not on your life!!!
And so, while women have caught up in education and work force participation, the July 2014 report by Fortune revealed that there are only 24 women CEO’s in the Fortune 500, and only 27 more if you expand to the Fortune 1000. Roughly that equates to about 5% – in stark contrast to women’s overall participation on the workplace, reported at 47% of the total US workforce by the United Stated Dept. of Labor. The number of women CEO’s is at an all-time high – as seen by this graph from Fortune. So the numbers are improving – albeit slowly.
Clearly progress made. No doubt still a big gap. In spite of education, diversity and inclusion programs, more female role models, and women that have been in the workforce long enough to be in senior positions.
As so perhaps, there is something more at work here. Enter the sticky floor. The sticky floor metaphor is one where women somehow hold themselves back, either unwittingly or by design. Perhaps content to reach a certain level and to call it a day. Whose undoing is not so much “out there” but “in here”. Rebecca Shambuagh, author of “It’s not a Glass Ceiling, It’s a Sticky Floor” identifies seven factors that create a sticky floor and that get in the way for women:
- Challenges with work / life balance
- Letting perfectionism get in the way
- Waiting for hard work to be recognized (rather than taking control of your own destiny)
- Not speaking up in the moment; waiting for the right words at the right time
- Not leveraging mentors and creating a support network
- Lack of political savvy
- Not asking for what you want
So is it a failure of organizations to overcome systemically undervaluing the contributions of women? Or is it a failure of women to lean in, as Cheryl Sandberg would say? Glass ceiling? I think so. Sticky floor? I think so.
As such, I suspect that the question is not “Glass ceiling OR Sticky Floor?” I think it is more likely “Glass Ceiling AND Sticky Floor”.
I see both play out in my Purdue classroom. It starts with fewer women who take classes in entrepreneurship. It is obvious when, on team after team, semester after semester, the lone female on the team is relegated to the role of coordinator, secretary, and organizer. I see it when the young women in my class are less likely to raise their hands, to stop and network with guest speakers, to throw out an opposing idea. I am painfully aware of it when I realize I’ve ignored the female student who raised their hand in favor of the male who was the more enthusiastic hand waver.
Which means that those in positions of power must influence the organizational systems we live and work in – to uncover the biases and systemic elements that keep women and minorities relegated to lower levels of the organization. And once identified, must work to shatter the glass ceiling. This effort will not come from women continually bumping their head on the ceiling in the hopes it might shatter. It will come from those who have the ability to reshape the organizations boundaries and rules, spoken and unspoken. From those who can powerfully role model, ask compelling questions, put in place new norms and expectations. Those with an organizational sledge hammer. Those currently in power.
And it also means that, as women, we must own the “inside” work that comes with getting unstuck. If we want it, we must go for it. We must state what we need and not expect that others will know. We must let go of this notation of perfection – and get on with it. We must figure out what work/life balance means for us – and find ways both men and women can have meaningful and full lives – both inside and outside of work.
I’m curious. What have you seen done in the organizations you work in to create cracks in the glass ceiling? What continues to keep it intact? What do those who want to lead at higher levels but are derailed due to gender, race, sexual orientation, or other non-relevant traits, do that gets in their way? What are some doing to create a new reality?
4 Responses
Sadly, this is so very true. As a female graduate student in a STEM, and leadership, program it is amazing to me to observe the differences in my male and female colleagues. We are all there to study leadership, and as we are adult students with full time jobs, most of us are also already actively participating in leadership in our workplaces. Yet, despite these similarities, there are stark differences in the ways in which we participate in the class room. The men routinely raise their hands, or just speak their minds regardless of being called on; they voice their questions and comments even if it disrupts the class. Meanwhile, the women patiently wait, hand in air, or put their hands down again while others talk and wait for an opportune moment to speak their minds; when it will be less disruptive. Often this results in their questions, comments, or experiences with a particular subject to go unshared. One can only assume that if this is happening in class, then it is happening at work as well. For some reason, whether it is programming, societal pressures, lack of confidence, etc., as women, it is so easy to fall into these sticky-floored traps, and I agree, we do it to ourselves more often than not. Thank you for sharing this thought! I am definitely going to pass this on to my own support network, and bring it up in our next Purdue Leadership Lean In Circle meeting!
How can anyone assess the impact of a Glass Ceiling when so few women rise to the occasion due to Sticky Floors? I am a firm believer that women hold themselves back. Like baseball, where your home run average is significantly impacted by the # of times at bat, so is the # of CEOs impacted by the # of women who are “willing” to get off the sticky floors. Women do not put themselves in position to rise to the top often enough, so of course, the # of Fortune 500 CEOs will be low. The sacrifices are very high when moving into top roles, especially as it pertains to life/balance issues. And, I think women are not willing to make the sacrifices because they value “happiness” over “accomplishment.” And, there is nothing wrong with that. Women know how to get what they want. If as a gender we valued being in CEO roles, we would make it happen. You have to “want” it to “achieve” it.
The two times I pushed the pause button on my career, my parents were in the midst of health crises. Both times, the effect was dramatic on my career trajectory. I was not in a place in my life when I could pay for round the clock care, so I dropped back to part-time work and paid for part-time care. None of these are easy decisions to make. I do not regret being there for them, but I wish the toll had not been so high…
Yes I see myself in a number of the items listed.