Breaking the Glass Ceiling:
Women in Leadership Positions
Artemus Ward
Dept. of Political Science
Northern Illinois University
aeward@niu.edu
Introduction
• While there have been some women in positions of leadership
throughout American history, it was the women’s rights
movement of the early 20th century that began to make inroads.
• But significant gains were not achieved until the women’s rights
movement of the 1970s.
• Still, women have not been able to achieve parity with men
when it comes to the highest levels of leadership in government,
business, and academia.
• Many suggest it is a lack of leadership training and experience
and that women need to get into a leadership “pipeline” at
lower levels in order to make inroads at the highest levels.
• Others suggest that the problem is bias—either overt or
hidden—on the part of both men and women.
In 2011, women held 90 (17%) of the 535 seats in Congress: 73 (17%)
of 435 in the House and 17 (17%) of 100 in the Senate.
Women in the Federal
Bureaucracy
• In 1990 only 11% of senior
managers in the federal
government were women; now
women make up nearly a third.
• Women now hold 44% of
professional and administrative
jobs, up from 20% in 1990.
• Still, there was little change in
these numbers in the last ten
years.
Includes such statewide offices as Governor, Lieutenant Governor, Attorney General,
Secretary of State, and Treasurer among other positions.
Judges:
One Third
• There have been four women justices of the U.S. Supreme Court
(three currently sitting).
• 31% (51 of 165) of U.S. Courts of Appeals judges are women.
• 30% of U.S. District Court judges are women.
• 33% (111 of 341) of state supreme court judges are women.
• Of the 53 chief judges of state supreme courts, 19, or 36% are
women.
• Women comprise a majority of judges on state supreme courts
in California, Michigan, Tennessee, Wisconsin and the District of
Columbia. Women constitute at least 40% of the judges on an
additional 17 state supreme courts.
The Legal
Profession
• At the 200 largest law firms in America:
• Women make up barely 15% of equity partners,
and just 26% of nonequity partners.
• Women hold only 20% of the positions on a firm's
highest governance committee, and only 4% of
firms have a firmwide female managing partner.
Women in Business
• 14.7% of all corporate board seats in the Fortune 500
list are occupied by women.
• While the number of women on Fortune
500 corporate boards continues to rise, the average
rate of increase is only one-half of one percent per
year.
• Currently around 30% of US firms are majorityowned by women.
• Women represent only 36% of enrollments in M.B.A.
programs—a figure unchanged in the last ten years.
Women in
Academia
• In 2010, women earned 80% of the undergraduate
degrees, 77% of the master's and 67% of the doctoral
degrees in education.
• In Engineering, by contrast, women earned just 18%
of undergraduate degrees, 22% of master’s and 23%
of doctoral degrees.
• Women comprise only 18% of computer science
majors, 37% of philosophy and religious studies
majors and 43% of math majors.
Women in
Voluntary
Organizations
• 30% of women in America volunteer.
• And while women make up roughly half of the
membership in voluntary organizations, they
hold only 1/4 to 1/3 of the leadership
positions.
Hope for the
Future?
• Studies routinely show that girls outperform boys in
school. They are more resilient, better at reading,
have better verbal skills, are better at math, have
greater social intelligence…
• 50% of medical and law students are women.
• 57% of all undergraduates are women.
• 60% of all Master’s degrees are earned by women.
• 52% of Doctoral degrees are earned by women.
What Can Women
Do?
• Begin by taking on leadership positions on campus. Some positions are
appointed, others are elected.
• Start in class with group assignments, then campus organizations (groups,
clubs), and finally move to campus-wide offices (student government).
• Once you leave school, take the same approach to getting involved in your
community. Join voluntary organizations and inquire about local government
involvement. There are many local government positions (such as sitting on
boards) that are appointed and relatively easy to join. Just go to your local
government offices and start asking around.
• If you have an interest in politics, volunteer for political campaigns. Again,
start local and move up the ladder. Smaller, local races will allow you to take
on more leadership right away than say a national presidential campaign.
• Once you gain experience in leadership roles for voluntary organizations and
government positions, you may be recruited by political party leaders to run
for office.
What Can Men Do?
• Men need to be conscious that gender
disparities exist in positions of
leadership.
• Men should consider careers in fields
that have traditionally been dominated
by women such as health care and
education.
• Men need to begin bearing an equal
share of, if not primary responsibility
for, housework and the care of children
and elderly parents—areas that men
have traditionally relied on women to
take care of.
Sources
•
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•
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Carmon, Irin, “Better Numbers for Women in Federal Government, But Room to
Grow,” Jezebel.com, May 26, 2011.
Chen, Vivia, “Women are Now 70 Percent of Staff Lawyers, But Stuck 15 Percent of
Equity Partners,” The Carreerist, October 22, 2012.
Mangan, Katherine, “Despite Efforts to Close Gender Gaps, Some Disciplines
Remain Lopsided,” The Chronicle of Higher Education, October 29, 2012.
Wall, Audrey, “Women in State Government,” Knowledge Center – The Council on
State Governments, July 1, 2011.