From Glass Ceiling to Glass Cliff: Women in Senior Executive Service

Abstract

The dominant paradigm that frames the challenges women face in attaining upward mobility has been the glass ceiling metaphor (Bowling, Cynthia, Kelleher, Christine, Jones, Jennifer, and Deil Wright. 2006. Cracked ceilings, firmer floors, and weakening walls: Trends and patterns in gender representation among executives leading American state agencies, 1970–2000. Public Administration Review 66 (6): 823–36; Bullard, Angela, and Deil Wright. 1993. Circumventing the glass ceiling: Women executives in American state governments. Public Administration Review 53 (3): 189–202; Naff, Katherine C. 1994. Through the glass ceiling: Prospects for the advancement of women in the federal civil service. Public Administration Review 54 (6): 507–14; Riccucci, Norma M. 2009. The pursuit of social equity in the federal government: A road less traveled? Public Administration Review 69 (3): 373–82; Sneed, Bethany G. 2007. Glass walls in state bureaucracies: Examining the difference departmental function can make. Public Administration Review 67 (5): 880–91). However, over the last decades women have made steady progress and are moving to positions of leadership. Women in leadership positions continue to face an uphill battle; they often are placed in precarious positions setting them up for failure and pushing them over the edge—a phenomenon recently termed as “glass cliff” (Ryan, Michelle K., and S. Alexander Haslam. 2005. The glass cliff: Evidence that women are over-represented in precarious leadership positions. British Journal of Management 16, 81–90. Ryan, Michelle K., and S. Alexander Haslam. 2007. The glass cliff: Exploring the dynamics surrounding the appointment of women to precarious leadership positions. Academy of Management Review 32 (2): 549–72). Using data from the 2010 Federal Employee Viewpoint Survey, this research examines the challenges women face in Senior Executive Service (SES) in various US federal government agencies (distributive, redistributive, regulatory, and constituent policy). The study is based on three widely discussed theories in the field of social psychology—think-manager-think-male, social role theory, and role incongruity theory. The study findings indicate that SES women in distributive and constituent policy agencies are most likely to face glass cliffs. The odds of women falling off the cliff are less when women have influence over policymaking decisions, perceive empowerment, and experience organizational equities. Address correspondence to the author at meghna.sabharwal@utdallas.edu JPART doi:10.1093/jopart/mut030 © The Author 2013. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory, Inc. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory Advance Access published June 13, 2013 at U niersity of T exas at D allas on Jne 4, 2013 http://jpaordjournals.org/ D ow nladed from Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory 2