A REVERSE GLASS CEILING?

This blog entry by Becky Brubacker.

The story: "Does the reverse glass ceiling exist?"

The analysis:

I found this article on msn.com. It poses the question of a ‘Reverse Glass Ceiling.’ The ‘Glass Ceiling’ is a term used to describe the many barriers women must face when entering the workforce. Especially in male dominated fields, such as finance or law. This article asks if there is such a thing for men who enter women dominated fields such as nursing or marketing. As time goes on, more and more men are taking an interest in these fields. A couple reasons were given. Now that most families are dual-income, men no longer have to have a job based solely on how much money it can provide for them. They can find something they have a passion for, and enjoy it, even if it pays a little less than a typical ‘male’ job. And, men want to have a career in which they can have plenty of free time to spend with their families. Fields that tend to be women-dominated allow for that a lot more.

I thought this article was a perfect one to write about for this class given our recent discussion on women and advertising. We talked a lot about gender stereotypes and assumptions, and how times have changed for women throughout the decades. This article shows just how much times have changed. Women are out in the workplace, and there is always the question of how hard it is for them to succeed. But they have succeeded so much, especially in certain fields, that now we must ask the question of how hard it is for men to succeed. You often hear so much about how women hit these barriers in the workplace because of the fact that they are female. Now discrimination against men based on the fact that they are male is becoming an issue. An example was given of a male travel agent who said he feels he doesn’t get proper respect and recognition, and there is a definite ‘girls club’ that is hard to break through.

It is also just interesting to think about why certain fields mentioned tend to male dominated versus female dominated. An argument was made in the article that public relations is a very social and nurturing field, and that is why it is occupied more by women. The same can be said for nursing. While finance, for example, uses more logic and numbers, and that is associated more with the strengths of males. With these gender stereotypes, its no wonder men and women can encounter a ‘Glass Ceiling’ when trying to succeed in a field not typically thought of for them. People already have the assumption that they do not belong there. Women are scrutinized for trying to act like a man, while a man’s masculinity can be called into question. Those are hard issues to face for both genders. It would be amazing if people could just do what they had a passion for, and a ‘Glass Ceiling’ would be non-existent.