GLASS CEILING

The glass ceiling is a metaphor for the invisible hand mechanisms that prevent a demographic group, often seen as a minority, from rising above a certain level in the hierarchy. The concept first came to the fore in 1986 in Wall Street's work titled "Women in Business" (Lackwood, 2004:2).

The glass ceiling in the labor market is defined as a dimension of gender discrimination that does not allow women to be promoted regardless of their success and abilities, and is defined as imposing obstacles that are difficult to understand and overcome by managers (Ayrancı and Gürbüz, 2012: 128). It is possible to explain these obstacles with many examples such as men receiving more salaries than women despite being in the same position, employing more men in engineering fields, women's positions being filled immediately after leaving for maternity leave, and expecting women to work more in social fields.

The glass ceiling is clearly felt not only in underdeveloped or developing countries, but also in developed countries. Hillary R. Clinton, who withdrew from the US elections in 2008, explained the best example of this with the following statements. “…Although we did not pierce the highest and most durable glass ceiling, thanks to you, we created approximately 18 million cracks in this glass…”. As it can be understood from here, the glass ceiling shows itself in almost every country and every occupational group.

When we look at the glass ceiling phenomenon from the perspective of Turkey, it is sufficient to examine the 2021 report prepared by the European Commission for Turkey. According to the report, it is seen that the number of female representatives in the upper levels of the bureaucracy in Turkey remains at low levels. The representation rate of women in the Grand National Assembly of Turkey is 17.32%, the rate of female metropolitan mayors is 2%, and the rate of female mayors is 3%.

Why are women so rare in the top management of companies or bureaucracy? What is the reason for this difference between men and women? Are the answers to all these questions due to the short break that women give to working life after becoming a mother? (Acemoğlu, D. et al., 2016: 252). Whatever the reason, the state, employers, academic institutions and women must cooperate in order to break the glass ceiling. However, it seems that the glass ceiling will continue to be talked about for many years, as countries do not take the necessary steps in this regard.

Resources
Acemoğlu, D., Laibson, D. ve List, J.A. (2016). Mikroekonomi, Beta Yayınevi, 1. Baskı, İstanbul.
Avrupa Komisyon Raporu (2021).
efaidnbmnnnibpcajpcglclefindmkaj/https://ab.gov.tr/siteimages/birimler/kpb/2021_turkiye_ra poru_tr.pdf, Erişim Tarihi:16.09.2022.
Ayrancı, E. ve Gürbüz, T. (2012). Considering Glass Ceiling in Turkey: İdeas of Executives in Education Sector Regarding Women in the Workplace, International Journal of Human Resource Studies, 2(4), 126-151.
Clinton, H. R. (2008). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Soudg5ZAVj0 Erişim Tarihi: 16.09.2022.
Lockwood, N. (2004). The Glass Ceiling: Domestic and International Perspectives. Human Resource Magazine Research Quarterly, 1-49.