BREAKING THE GLASS CEILING A glass ceiling is a metaphor used to represent an invisible barrier that keeps a given demographic (typically applied to minorities) from rising beyond a certain level in a hierarchy. The metaphor was first coined by feminists in reference to barriers in the careers of high-achieving women. In the US, the concept is sometimes extended to refer to obstacles hindering the advancement of minority women, as well as minority men. Minority women often find the most difficulty in “breaking the glass ceiling” because they lie at the intersection of two historically marginalized groups: women and people of color. East Asian and East Asian American news outlets have coined the term “bamboo ceiling” to refer to the obstacles that all East Asian Americans face in advancing their careers.
advance within areas of their careers and often while trying to advance within their lives outside their work spaces. The United States Federal Glass Ceiling Commission defines the glass ceiling as
“the unseen barrier that keeps women from rising to the top of the corporate ladder, regardless of their qualifications or achievements.”
Cotter and his colleagues found that glass ceilings are correlated strongly with gender. Both white and minority women face a glass ceiling in the course of their careers. In contrast, the researchers did not find evidence of a glass ceiling for African-American men. The glass ceiling metaphor has often Within the same concepts of been used to describe invisible the other terms surrounding barriers (“glass”) through which the workplace, there are similar women can see elite positions terms for restrictions and bar- but cannot reach them (“ceilriers concerning women and ing”). These barriers prevent their roles within organizations large numbers of women and and how they coincide with ethnic minorities from obtaining their maternal duties. These and securing the most powerful, “Invisible Barriers” function as prestigious and highest-grossmetaphors to describe the ex- ing jobs in the workforce. tra circumstances that wom- Moreover, this effect prevents en undergo, usually when try- women from filling high-ranking to advance within areas of ing positions and puts them their careers and often while at a disadvantage as potential
andidates for advancement. The first person said to use the term Glass ceiling was Marilyn Loden during a 1978 speech. In addition to the glass ceiling, which already is stopping women from climbing higher in success in the workplace, a parallel phenomenon called the “glass escalator” is occurring. This can be defined as how more men are joining fields that were previously occupied mainly by women, such as nursing and teaching, and within these job fields, the men are riding right past women and going straight to the top, similarly to if they were on an escalator and a woman was taking stairs. Men are being offered more promotions than women and even though women have worked just as hard, they are still not being offered the same chances as men are in some circumstances.The chart from Carolyn K. Broner shows an example of the glass escalator in favor of men for female-dominant occupations in schools. While women have mostly occupied the position of teachers, men are taking the higher positions in school systems as deans or principals. Research on the career paths of men who have occupations in female-dominated fields, conclude that men gain from.
WORKPLACE DISCRIMINATION Gender discrimination in the workplace remains rife, with many young women experiencing sexual harassment, job insecurity and low pay compared with male peers, a survey has found. Almost a quarter (23%) of females aged between 16 and 30 have been sexually harassed at work but only 8% have reported it, according to the poll for the Young Women’s Trust. Among the reasons for women not reporting workplace sexual harassment were fear of losing their job or being given fewer hours and not knowing how to make a complaint. The findings, contained in the trust’s report, It’s (still) a Rich Man’s World, published 100 years on from the first women getting the vote, suggest illegal discrimination is commonplace throughout the employment process. Almost a third (31%) of young women reported sex discrimination while working or looking for work and one in five (19%)
Additionally, 43% of young mothers said they had experienced maternity discrimination.
The charity says the Populus Data Solutions poll, of a representative sample of 4,010 18to 30-year-olds in England and The impact of gender discrim- Wales, suggests that millions ination is highlighted by the of women are losing out in the 52% of young women who said workplace despite the #MeToo their work has had a negative movement and reforms such impact on their mental health, as gender pay gap reporting. compared with 42% of men. Four in 10 young women (40%) Dr Carole Easton, chief ex- said it was a “real struggle” ecutive of the Young Wom- to make their cash last to the en’s Trust, said: “Young wom- end of the month, compared en’s treatment at work, pay with 29% of young men. A and wellbeing are trailing far greater percentage of young behind those of young men. women compared with young men (39% to 32%) said they “If 2018 is to be a turning point had been offered zero-hours for women’s equality and not the results would equate to just a footnote in history, then it’s 770,000 young women who clear that we need deeds, not would describe themselves as just words. We need to be impa- “struggling” financially, more tient for change: a lot has been than 800,000 who have been achieved in the last 100 years sexually harassed at work and but there’s still a long way to go. not reported it, and more than a million who have been paid “A concerted effort is needed less than a man doing the same from government and employ- or similar work, says the trust. ers to provide young people with security and hope for the A Government Equalities Offuture, redress gender ine- fice spokesman said: “The quality at work and help man- government is committed to age the growing mental health tackling injustices, including crisis among young people.” closing the gender pay gap.
The phrase is derived from studies that focus on violent behavior perpetrated by men, and—this is key—is designed to describe not masculinity itself, but a form of gendered behavior that results when expectations of “what it means to be a man” go wrong. The Good Men Project defines it this way: Toxic masculinity is a narrow and repressive description of manhood, designating manhood as defined by violence, sex, status and aggression. It’s the cultural ideal of manliness, where strength is everything while emotions are a weakness; where sex and brutality are yardsticks by which men are measured, while supposedly “feminine” traits—which can range from emotional vulnerability to simply not being hypersexual—are the means by which your status as “man” can be taken away.
FACING
Men can be and are sexually assaulted. Any man can be sexually assaulted regardless of size, strength, appearance, age, occupation, race or sexual identity. The idea that men can’t be raped or sexually assaulted is linked to unrealistic beliefs that a ‘man’ should be able to defend himself against attack. Although the majority of sexual assaults of men are committed by men, women do sexually assault men. Sexual assault is not always enacted through overwhelming physical force: it can involve emotional manipulation whereby a man can be coerced into sexual act out of fear of potential repercussions for his relationships, work, etc. The number of men identifying sexual abuse by a woman as a boy or young man has increased over the past few years. male sexual abuse has profound effects on those who experience it and can
deeply affect their mental health and relationships. It is estimated that one in six men are victims of rape, but only 10% of these men report the crime to the police Research demonstrates that men face backlash when they don’t adhere to masculine gender stereotypes— when they show vulnerability, act nicer, display empathy, express sadness, exhibit modesty, and proclaim to be feminists. This is troubling not least because it discourages men from behaving in ways known to benefit their teams and their own careers. One experimental study found that male managers in consulting who tended to advocate more for their team than for themselves were judged to be more likely to be considered for job dismissal. It is an important time to encourage a more modern form of masculinity.
TOXIC MASCULINITY.
Beauty Standards (Unreachable)
“We’re losing b o d i e s as fast as we’re losing languages,” says prominent British psychotherapist Susie Orbach in the upcoming documentary The Illusionists. “Just as English has become the lingua franca of the world, so the white, blondified, small-nosed, pert-breasted, long-legged body is coming to stand in for the great variety of human bodies that there are.” The documentary is the latest from 35-yearold Italian filmmaker Elena Rossini, who traveled to eight countries throughout North America, Europe, the Middle East and Asia over the course of seven years
including, but not limited to, thinness — are commodified and scattered throughout the globe. “Western beauty ideals — actually, man-made Western beauty ideals — have spread to the rest of the world through globalization and are now being upheld as models even in places like India and Japan,” Rossini told Mic. “And they have very dangerous consequences.” It may be National Eating Disorders Awareness Week, but we often forget that eating disorders — as well as the forces that may trigger them — are a problem well beyond confines of the U.S. In fact, rigid Western ideals are increasingly permeating cultures all over the globe, introducing damaging standards of thinness in particular where they may never before have existed. Rossini was moved to make The Illusionists by what she saw as a cross-generation epidemic of body dissatisfaction, which has manifested in similarly distressing ways across diverse cultures. Japan, for example, has historically
with curvy figures long-associated with positive values like wealth and fertility. Yet today, about 30% of Japanese women in their 20s are categorized as underweight — a proportion that has rapidly increased since the 1980s, as Dr. Tetsuya Ando of the National Institute of Mental Health states in the film. The problem remains largely unrecognized: According to an article by writer Georgia Hanias in Marie Claire, only one professor specialized in eating disorders across all 80 Japanese medical schools in 2012. Rossini echoes Karlin’s conclusion: “What many sociologists have observed is that globalization — and the way American media has been exported to the rest of the world — has had a profound effect in the way people all over the world perceive beauty ideals,” she told Mic. Lebanon is another country explored in the film that appears to have been negatively affected by Western ideals. It’s the country with the most plastic surgery procedures per capita, and
HARASSMENT ON THE STREETS
Gender-based street harassment is unwanted comments, gestures, and actions forced on a stranger in a public place without their consent and is directed at them because of their actual or perceived sex, gender, gender expression, or sexual orientation. Street harassment includes unwanted whistling, leering, sexist, homophobic or transphobic slurs, persistent requests for someone’s name, number or destination after they’ve said no, sexual names, comments and demands, following, flashing, public masturbation, groping, sexual assault, and rape.
The mobility of all members of the LGBQT community is often restricted as well because of harassment and hateful violence motivated by the person’s actual or perceived gender expression or sexual orientation. For example, a 2013 study of 93,000 LGBQT Of course, people are also har- individuals in the European assed because of factors like Union found that half avoided their race, nationality, religion, public spaces sometimes bedisability, or class. Some peo- cause of street harassment ple are harassed for multiple and most reported high levels reasons within a single harass- of fear in locations like restaument incident. Harassment is rants, public transportation, about power and control and it streets, parking lots, and parks. is often a manifestation of soci- Street harassment ofetal discrimination like sexism, ten begins around puberty. homophobia, Islamophobia, classism, ableism and racism. No form of harassment is ever okay; everyone should be treated with respect, dignity, and empathy. Street harassment is a human rights issue because it limits harassed persons’ ability to be in public, especially women’s. Read the United Nations’ stance on the issue.
occasioned some internet criticism and debates in the US, UK, Turkey, and Canada. The public debate began when an anti-manspreading campaign started on the social media website Tumblr in 2013; the Both the position and the term The fact is take up too much term appeared a year later. have sparked widespread crit- room is rude, and in placicism and debate online, and es where the practice hasn’t OxfordDictionaries.com added it has been compared with been banned, women are the word “manspreading” in Auexamples of women taking manspreading back to get more gust 2015. Use of the term has up excessive space on pub- room Manspreading or man-sit- been criticized as “a caricature lic transport with handbags. ting is the practice of men sit- of feminism” and the practice ting in public transport with legs has been juxtaposed with examOxfordDictionaries.com add- wide apart, thereby covering ples of women taking up excesed the word “manspreading” more than one seat. Both this sive space in public spaces with in August 2015, describing it posture and the use of the ne- bags. Many have criticised this as: “The practice whereby a ologism “manspreading” have campaign for being against men Manspreading, sometimes referred to ballrooming or mansitting, is a term to describe the way in which some men sit on public transport with their legs spread wide apart.
a man, especially one travelling on public transport, adopts a sitting position with his legs wide apart, in such a way as to encroach on an adjacent seat or seats.”
FIGHT FOR How to Reduce The Effects of Sexsim
CHANGE... Things employers NEED to do to improve gender equality at their workplace: • Reassess job requirements for the senior leadership team • Expand the applicant pool • Consider your biases • Rethink your interview process • Make sure all employees have the same access to opportunity • Minimize the gender pay gap One solution to solving sexism would be to stop supporting music artists that itemize woman and use offensive lyrics in a degrading fashion towards women. The music industry makes women objects, has music videos with naked women, produces songs talking about rape and a women’s body parts. a major offender in contributing to sexism. By changing our views
on sexism, the music indus- British initiative the Camtry will take a blow from this. paign Against Living Miserably (CALM) aims to Recognize the media can one challenge a culture that preof the most degrading plac- vents men seeking help when es for woman to be, and that they need it, highlighting that in facts given even from the news Britain the single biggest killcan be subject to sexism. Slut er of men under 45 is suicide. shaming is a part of the me- Men and women experience dia. It’s activeness in the media many of the same mental has shaped society to view slut health issues, but men with deshaming as okay and appropri- pression or anxiety may hide ate at times. Fact of the matter emotions and express anger calling a woman a slut is never or aggression instead, accordappropriate. That word is just ing to the US National Institute another way to make women of Mental Health. less than men and degrade them. Fact of the matter don’t let We are all human beings, the media shape your beliefs. born with the same dignity given under one God. To diIn order for sexism not to be- minish the value of a woman come a pattern of interaction because she is seen as less between someone and the than a men should never be acperson should it be a social re- cepted socially, yet it is a part lationship, a job, or to prevent of our culture today. It is our the person from treating other role to stop sexism. It is our women the same, it’s best to role to promote human dignity. take on sexism immediately. As soon as a sexist comment Sexism does not promote huor action has been made, call man dignity. Defacing the valit out either by using a stock ue of another human being, phrase or indicating the dis- because of their gender, is not comfort, dislike, or unrespon- what we were intended to do on siveness. This shuts down this planet. No one is ever born the possibility for repetition. with a sexist mind. They beIf you are in a safe environ- come accustomed to it; Desenment with supportive people sitized. It is our job to work on where you feel comfortable sensitizing society; making sodirectly responding instead ciety aware of the harm they are of brushing off a comment, doing to themselves and othit can be empowering to call ers.You can make change now.