It's 2011, and Women are still looking through the glass ceiling.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2011/feb/21/women-glass-ceiling-still-exists-top-jobs

According to the guardian.co.uk website article about women still currently facing the glass ceiling, 73% of women responding to a to a report says that in the UK, barriers are still strong for women wanting to get to a senior management or board-level position. On a lighter side, 38% of men that responded to this report truly believe there is a glass ceiling; assuming the other 62% don't think there is such thing as a glass ceiling.

Again, as mentioned many times before, I agree with the women that the glass ceiling does exist, and there should definitely be an end to that all across the globe. If young women get offered a promotion in large organizations, more often than not, it is more riskier to take this position than to go out and start their own business. Having to be able to negotiate their childcare lives with their new managerial lives is not a simple walk in the park. According to our Flatworld book, with negotiating, the young woman would first analyze and gather information of what this promotion might entail. Then, the woman would check out other alternatives or use her BATNA (best alternative to a negotiated agreement) to effectively think through when deciding whether to accept the offer or not. The next phase would be to present the facts to either someone close to the young woman, or any of her co-workers, including any higher-ups. After presenting, the young woman would meet with who might be offering her the promotion and go over goals from both sides to come to an agreement. Finally, the young woman would come to closure with the offerer and give them a solid answer of what they chose during all of the research and work during the negotiation process. This negotiation could end up having the young woman not being able to spend much time with her newborn, but she can definitely negotiate to make an increase in her salary in order to provide for her family, since her husband will most likely be taking a leave of absence from work.

From my first hand experience of dealing with women in managerial positions, I've been though it all: the not so smart boss, the rude boss, the boss I really like, etc. I have no idea what each are getting paid compared to their male counterparts, but I do know that each worked hard at getting to where they are at, and most of them took little to no time to get to that position. Working for a Fortune 500 company opened my eyes to see that there are a good amount of women with a lot of power and a lot of responsibilities (i.e. Pat Hemingway-Hall - Blue Cross Blue Shield of Illinois C.E.O.). Most of the higher-up women I was in contact with was always busy and never had much time to talk like some of the men higher-ups I was in contact with. Now that I look back at it, I wonder if the glass ceiling effect could be taking place and most people there don't realize it.

My supervisor and manager (both females) were smart about dealing with stress and never took it out upon my co-workers and I. I think that part of the reason why the glass ceiling still exists is because higher-up men assume that most women can't handle the stress that comes when working in managerial positions, especially since women tend to go through different emotional phases in their lives. But now I know that this assumption is not true, I can argue that if a woman has the same position as a man, with the same amount of work, or more, there should be absolutely no reason as to why there is a pay difference.

Both IBM and Blue Cross Blue Shield (Illinois) are both famous companies around the nation that are doing great even with this economic downturn, and are ran by female C.E.O.s. Do you think that there should be more female C.E.O.s in major companies? This way female managers and supervisors can be encouraged to continue to work hard and eventually get the full dollar for every dollar a male makes. Or do you think that doesn't really matter and it all depends on the individual?

Thanks.

Jon Locke