Hitting the Ceiling: An Examination of the Barriers to Success for Asian American Women

Abstract

This paper aims to fill the void in legal research on the experiences of Asian American women. This paper is limited in its scope and focuses specifically on the experiences of middle-class, educated, Asian American women. It also focuses on societal forces that create barriers to success for Asian American women, such as stereotyping. Asian Americans are not a monolithic group. They are from different countries with distinct histories, and differ in language, culture, food, and religion. Nevertheless, our dominant society often mistakes all Asian Americans as being members of a monolithic group. For that reason, my paper focuses specifically on external forces creating barriers to success. In Part II, I discuss the exclusion of Asian American women in the glass ceiling and the bamboo ceiling. In Part III, I discuss the study of intersectionality, its limitations, and potential to discuss the barriers to success for Asian American women. In order to fully understand the barriers to success for Asian American women, I examine the history of exclusion, stereotypes, and discrimination of Asian American women in Part IV. I will also discuss the model minority myth and how Asian American women fit into this narrative. I will conclude this paper with a discussion on ways to remove these barriers to success and acknowledge the experiences of Asian American women.