THE GLASS CEILING IS CONSTRUCTED OVER THE GENDERED OFFICE

Abstract

Examines how concepts of gender (a primary field of power) articulation and the gendered office allow us to see and explain the contradiction that while women continue to move into management in complex organizations in the industrialized world, occupational sex segregation and the “glass ceiling” remain firmly in place. The explanation of the glass ceiling lies in neutral organizational logic and language. Contrary to dominant organizational logic, women do not bring problems to the office: rather, they encounter a long‐standing dynamic of domination and subordination. Managerial women demonstrate that the binary gender representation is contextually defined. They expose the fundamentally problematic nature of the opposition between male and female, based on a structure of male dominance and female submission.

Citation

Symons, G.L. (1992), "THE GLASS CEILING IS CONSTRUCTED OVER THE GENDERED OFFICE", Women in Management Review, Vol. 7 No. 1. https://doi.org/10.1108/09649429210007331