The glass ceiling
The glass ceiling is a concept that was coined in 1986 by the Wall Street Journal, which alludes to the invisible barriers faced by professional and highly qualified women to ascend their jobs. Lately, it has been reported about the low female participation in Silicon Valley, where only one out of ten leadership positions is held by women in the technology companies with parent companies there. As a general rule, the glass ceiling causes women who reach it to resign from their posts, in search of new opportunities.
It is "crystal" or invisible, because there are no expressly established impediments that prevent or hinder the promotion of women to high positions of responsibility, but rather it is manifested through a series of practices, usually imperceptible.
Our country is no stranger to this phenomenon.
Although in Chile we have a President of the Republic, elected by popular vote on two occasions, there has not been, for example, an interior minister or rectors at the head of traditional universities. Never in its history has the Supreme Court ever had a female president. Of the top companies listed on the Santiago Stock Exchange, only a small percentage have female directors. Female labour participation remains very low in the Chilean market. At a global level, for example, it is possible to point out that the UN has never been presided over by a woman, and that of the 585 Nobel Prizes awarded until 2017, only 49 have gone to women.
That is why it is necessary to adopt policies that make it possible, especially within companies, to break the glass ceiling. Some measures that can be developed are
Banish stereotypical organizational culture such as:"women are not good for mathematics","she got angry because she walks' in her days'","she should stay at home taking care of the children", among many others.
Encourage parental co-responsibility within the company, especially for male workers.
Eliminate the wage gap between male and female workers performing the same function.
To use "blind" personnel selection mechanisms, i. e. without identification of the applicant, so that in a first filter the choice of candidates does not go by gender - nor by surname or place of study of the teaching media.
Adopt gender parity mechanisms or initiatives within the company.
Avoid overtime work and eliminate the associated value in the organizational culture to be worked after the end of the working day.
To generate support networks among women within the company, promoting the exchange of experiences between those who have more years of experience and those who are just entering the labour market.
Strengthening of mentoring programs focused on women, such as the one carried out annually by Comunidad Mujer.
Finally, we believe that it is very important that we, the women, move the glass ceiling, until we eventually manage to break it. We can only do that with hard work.