Posted: February 23rd, 2022

Diversity Issue : The Glass Ceiling and the Maternal WallWomen are underrepresented at the highest levels of professions (e.g., tenured full professors in academia, upper-level managers or vice presidents in business)—a situation that has been called the glass ceiling.

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Learning Goal: I’m working on a writing discussion question and need an explanation and answer to help me learn.Write a journal reflection of
one page explaining the issue below- please talk about gender sterotypes/sexism as it relates to the issue below. Diversity Issue : The Glass Ceiling and the Maternal WallWomen are underrepresented at the highest levels of professions (e.g., tenured full professors in academia, upper-level managers or vice presidents in business)—a situation that has been called the glass ceiling. The glass ceiling metaphor suggests that invisible factors prevent women from advancing to the highest levels of their chosen occupation, but what are those factors? Here are several. First, gender stereotypes may lead personnel officers to assume that women don’t possess the traits (e.g., aggressiveness) needed to succeed in higher status jobs (Eagly & Karau, 2002). Second, the qualifications of female job applicants have been shown by Biernat and Kobrynowicz (1997) to be evaluated in the context of other women (She has good management experience, for a woman) rather than all applicants, males included. Third, men tend to evaluate other men more positively than women. For example, research shows that even when men and women have done equally well on a task, women are held to a higher standard, and thus given lower evaluations than men (Foschi, 1996). Fourth, when men and women do equally well on a masculine task (e.g., a logic problem), men are seen as skillful and women as lucky (Deaux & Emswiller, 1974).

Finally, compared with views of women in general, professional women as a subgroup are seen as more competent but less warm and likable. In terms of stereotype content, then, professional women are similar to rich people, Asians, and Jews—respected but resented (Fiske, Cuddy, Glick, & Xu, 2002). So, women face evaluative biases, especially in male-dominated organizations that help stall their upward occupational mobility.Another set of factors that helps explain the glass ceiling effect is what happens in the workplace when women become mothers. Pregnancy and motherhood are associated with negative stereotypes and assumptions of questionable competence (Halpert, Wilson, & Hickman, 1993). Jane Halpert and her colleagues (1993) found that a female employee’s work was evaluated more negatively when she was pregnant than when she was not pregnant, and this bias was greatest among male evaluators. When new mothers return to work, they face new stereotypic assumptions from their coworkers. In terms of the stereotype-content dimensions discussed in the Chapter 5, businesswomen or careerwomen tend to be seen as high in competence and low to moderate in warmth. Stereotypes of working mothers are low in competence and high in warmth. In other words, working moms are liked but not respected (Cuddy, Fiske, & Glick, 2004). Other groups that are similarly stereotyped include the elderly, the physically and mentally disabled, and housewives (Fiske et al., 2002).

Amy Cuddy and her colleagues (2004) show that the loss of presumed competence in others’ eyes is detrimental to workplace evaluations—participants in their studies are less willing to hire and promote working moms than childless women—and this discrimination is not offset by the extra warmth and likeability attributed to working moms. The collective impact of negative stereotyping and behavior toward working mothers on their occupational achievement is called the maternal wall (Williams, 2004). According to Joan Williams (2004), the stereotype associated with working mothers can have direct and indirect negative effects on performance evaluations. Assumptions of questionable competence and professional commitment can directly shape supervisors’ views of working mothers’ work. Anecdotal evidence also suggests that supervisors assume that out-of-office time is being spent on family responsibilities rather than working, which leads to a judgment that working mothers don’t work as hard as childless women. Finally, working moms must work harder to overcome their supervisors’ stereotypic assumptions about their competence and commitment, and this extra burden—not faced by childless women—may also help account for the glass ceiling effect.
Requirements: 350 words

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