Glass Escalator Research Articles

Racializing the Glass Escalator

Many men who work in women's professions experience a glass escalator effect that facilitates their advancement and upward mobility within these fields. Research finds that subtle aspects of the interactions, norms, and expectations in women's professions push men upward and outward into the higher-status, higher-paying, more “masculine” positions within these fields. Although most research includes minority men, little has explicitly considered how racial dynamics color these men's encounters with the mechanisms of the glass escalator. In this article, the author examines how intersections of race and gender combine to shape experiences for minority men in the culturally feminized field of nursing and finds that the upward mobility implied by the glass escalator is not uniformly available to all men who do “women's work.” The author concludes that the glass escalator is a racialized concept and a gendered one and considers the implications of this for future studies of men in feminized occupations.

Revisiting the Glass Escalator: The Case of Gender Segregation in a Female Dominated Occupation

Using data from the National Sample Survey of Registered Nurses (NSSRN) 1977–2000, we examine sex segregation in a paradigmatic female-dominated occupation—nursing. We find that contrary to the vertical pattern of occupational stratification implied by the “glass escalator,” men are not disproportionately represented in administrative posts. Instead, we find a pervasive pattern of horizontal sex segregation, whereby men and women are disproportionately clustered in particular gendered specialties. Using in-depth interviews with a sample of registered nurses, we show that male nurses tend to gravitate toward areas of nursing they perceive to be more “masculine.” Our findings have implications for other female-dominated occupations because the bottom-heavy structure of most occupations limits the number of men (as well as women) from reaching the top positions within the field, meaning that horizontal sorting processes of acclimation sort most male employees in female-dominated professions.

Gender-Based Discrimination In Nursing: A Ghanaian

Purpose and objectives: The 'glass escalator' phenomenon holds that men in female dominated professions like nursing can rise quickly to the top. However, they can also suffer discrimination. This phenomenon is widely recognised in advanced countries. Trained, mostly female nurses have been leaving Ghana in droves for greener pastures abroad, particularly the US and UK, with serious consequences on the health delivery service in Ghana. Conversely, increasing numbers of males are joining the nursing profession. It examines whether male nurses in Ghana enjoy any hidden advantages, and if so, what makes the men successful (even with their limited numbers) in a women-dominated field and what the implications are for both male and female nurses. Problem investigated: The article explores gender-based discrimination and the phenomenon of the glass escalator in a developing country context. It examines the position of male nurses in Ghana; the type, nature and extent of advantages they enjoy and any discrimination they face in a female-dominated field. Methodology: An in-depth cross-sectional questionnaire was employed. A thematic and cluster analysis of findings was executed, with data captured using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS). A combination of descriptive accounts as well as summary statistics using chi-square and correlations was used to examine the findings. Findings and implications: This paper reports the findings of an empirical study that show that male nurses neither suffer gender-based discrimination nor occupy the top positions in the nursing field. It also found that a majority of males do not want to leave the profession even though they feel they are assigned more responsibilities and are sometimes passed over for promotion.Originality: Whilst representing a modest contribution to research in gender-based discrimination in nursing, this paper is a first attempt to investigate the phenomenon in a Ghanaian context, with the dearth of relevant research in an area of increasing importance in Ghana serving as a huge fillip.

The Glass Cliff: Evidence that Women are Over‐Represented in Precarious Leadership Positions

AbstractThere has been much research and conjecture concerning the barriers women face in trying to climb the corporate ladder, with evidence suggesting that they typically confront a ‘glass ceiling’ while men are more likely to benefit from a ‘glass escalator’. But what happens when women do achieve leadership roles? And what sorts of positions are they given? This paper argues that while women are now achieving more high profile positions, they are more likely than men to find themselves on a ‘glass cliff’, such that their positions are risky or precarious. This hypothesis was investigated in an archival study examining the performance of FTSE 100 companies before and after the appointment of a male or female board member. The study revealed that during a period of overall stock‐market decline those companies who appointed women to their boards were more likely to have experienced consistently bad performance in the preceding five months than those who appointed men. These results expose an additional, largely invisible, hurdle that women need to overcome in the workplace. Implications for the evaluation of women leaders are discussed and directions for future research are outlined.

Will They Stay, or Will They Go? Sex-Atypical Work among Token Men Who Teach

This study investigates competing propositions about the effect of workplace sex composition on men who do “women's work,” and it contributes to our understanding of how men's experience with sex-atypical work affects workplace sex segregation. Using data on 5,734 secondary and elementary school teachers from the 1990–1992 Schools and Staffing Surveys, I conduct multinomial logistic regression analyses to test hypotheses regarding men's and women's relative likelihood of moving out of teaching and advancing up into administrative positions. Results from these analyses provide no evidence that Kanter's tokenism proposition is generalizable to token men who teach in elementary schools; rather than suffering disadvantages, evidence supports William's “glass escalator” proposition that men enjoy privilege in predominantly female jobs and are more likely than women to be promoted into administrative occupations.

Some Take the Glass Escalator, Some Hit the Glass Ceiling?

Results from analyses of a large Swedish longitudinal data set suggest that men who work in typically female occupations have substantially better internal promotion chances than have equally qualified women in such occupations. This finding is compatible with the idea that a socalled glass escalator takes underrepresented men on an upwardly mobile internal career path at a speed that their female colleagues can hardly enjoy. Furthermore, the results indicate that men and women have equal internal career chances in male-dominated occupations. Hence, the common assumption that obstacles to women’s internal career growth are especially severe in male-dominated fields of work obtains no support.

Male Advantage and the Gender Composition of Jobs: Who Rides the Glass Escalator?

Is the gender gap in pay constant across all jobs, or does the gender composition of the job affect male advantage? Using data from the NLSY and a finely detailed measure of the gender composition of jobs, I investigate gender differences in wages and in wage growth. I show how they differ between female-dominated, male-dominated, and balanced jobs. Predictions from Kanter's theory of tokenism and the Williams and Acker theory of gendered organizations are tested. Findings indicate that men are advantaged, net of controls, in both pay levels and wage growth in all jobs, regardless of gender composition. Contrary to predictions generated from Kanter's tokenism theory, men do not suffer when they are tokens, in terms of pay. Not only are predictions from Kanter's theory untrue for male tokens, they also do not hold for female tokens when it comes to wages. Rather, consistent with the Williams and Acker theory of gendered organizations, men are no more-and no less-advantaged when women are tokens; in terms of earnings, men are uniformly advantaged in male-dominated, female-dominated, and balanced jobs. Analyses of promotions data indicate that men are also not additionally advantaged whether they are the numerically dominant or minority gender; in fact, male advantage in promotions is the smallest when men are tokens.

Glass Ceilings and Glass Escalators

Many have researched the effect of occupational segregation on race and gender gaps in pay, but few have examined segregation's impact on promotions. This article uses the Panel Study of Income Dynamics to examine the effect of race and gender composition in the origin occupation on movement to a managerial position. Findings show that for men, percentage of women in the origin occupation positively affected the chances of men moving to a supervisory position and that Blacks were less likely than Whites to be promoted. For women, percentage of women and percentage of Blacks in the origin occupation significantly decreased chances of women attaining a management position. Subsequent analyses showed that Black men, Black women, and White women waited longer than did White men for the managerial promotions they received. The findings suggest the impact of a “glass escalator” for White men, a “glass ceiling” for others, and contradict the notion of a “declining significance of race.”

A Case Study of Gender Differences in Job Satisfaction Subsequent to Implementation of an Employment Equity Programme

In this research case study, the competing hypothesis of socialization, structural and social role theories were derived and used to explore and compare the job attitudes and satisfaction of women and men in a Canadian insurance company subsequent to voluntary implementation of an employment equity programme. Gender comparisons of both managerial and clerical employees on individual facets of satisfaction indicated the most support for social role theory, some support for structural theory and the least support for socialization theory. These findings indicate that managerial women and men tend to derive work satisfaction from similar sources. The variation in facet results cautions against global conclusions about gender and job satisfaction. Unanticipated consequences such as a ‘backlash’ (Faludi, 1991) of managerial men and a ‘glass escalator’ (Williams, 1992) for clerical men were also suggested by the findings in this case. A key implication is the potential benefit to both organizations and managerial women from steps taken to level the structural playing field.

Still a Man's World: Men Who Do Women's Work.

Men who do 'women's work' have consistently been the butt of jokes, derided for their lack of drive and masculinity. In this eye-opening study, Christine Williams provides a wholly new look at men who work in predominantly female jobs. Having conducted extensive interviews in four cities, Williams uncovers how men in four occupations - nursing, elementary school teaching, librarian ship, and social work - think about themselves and experience their work. Contrary to popular imagery, men in traditionally female occupations do not define themselves differently from men in more traditional occupations. Williams finds that most embrace conventional, masculine values. Her findings about how these men fare in their jobs are also counterintuitive. Rather than being surpassed by the larger number of women around them, these men experience the 'glass escalator effect', rising in disproportionate numbers to administrative jobs at the top of their professions. Williams finds that a complex interplay between gendered expectations embedded in organizations, and the socially determined ideas workers bring to their jobs, contribute to mens' advantages in these occupations. Using a feminist psychoanalytic perspective, Williams calls for more men not only to cross over to women's occupations, but also to develop alternative masculinities that find common ground with traditionally female norms of cooperation and caring. Until the workplace is sexually integrated and masculine and feminine norms equally valued, it will unfortunately remain 'still a man's world'.

The Glass Escalator: Hidden Advantages for Men in the "Female" Professions

This paper addresses men's underrepresentation in four predominantly female professions: nursing, elementary school teaching, librarianship, and social work. Specifically, it examines the degree to which discrimination disadvantages men in hiring and promotion decisions, the work place culture, and in interactions with clients. In-depth interviews were conducted with 99 men and women in these professions in four major U.S. cities. The interview data suggest that men do not face discrimination in these occupations; however, they do encounter prejudice from individuals outside their professions. In contrast to the experience of women who enter male-dominated professions, men generally encounter structural advantages in these occupations which tend to enhance their careers. Because men face different barriers to integrating nontraditional occupations than women face, the need for different remedies to dismantle segregation in predominantly female jobs is emphasized.

The Glass Escalator: Hidden Advantages for Men in the "Female" Professions

The Glass Escalator: Hidden Advantages for Men in the "Female" Professions