Dear Women, Shatter The Glass Ceilings

2020 was an amazing year for women.

We saw them marching tall from sports to politics. 

We saw a lot of  “first-evers”.

Kamala Harris: First women Vice-President of US

Shivangi Singh: India’s first woman fighter pilot to fly the Rafale aircraft

 Stacy Garrity: First Republican woman to serve as Pennsylvania State Treasurer.

Gitanjali Rao: TIME magazine’s first-ever Kid of the Year’. 

 Mauree Turner: First Muslim legislator in Oklahoma.

Women from all corners of the world smashed glass-ceilings in the year 2020.

They have fought hard for these achievements.

But, I still believe these smashes are not enough. We need more of them as what we witnessed in 2020 could only crack these glass ceilings and could not demolish it. 

Demolition of these ceilings have a very long way to go, but fortunately the march has begun. 

 Because..

In Australia, Men dominate Senior Levels of management.

In India, Nearly half of Indian women leave the Workforce between Junior and Middle Management Levels.

In Canada, Men continue to hold 90% of C-Level Executive Roles.

In Europe, Only one of the Three Managers is a Woman

In the United States, Only 40% of Managers are Women.

In Global 500 Companies, There are few women higher up the corporate ladder.

In spite of the discussions about diversity and inclusion in organizations, women in leadership roles are still in the minority. 

They receive fewer opportunities than their male counterparts to showcase their full potential, and have to work harder and prove themselves repeatedly as they work their way up to senior positions.

What can women do to crack the glass ceiling?

Organizations need to understand that more diversity at the top positions will lead to better decision making and business outcomes. 

There is an absolute need to overcome prejudices against women. These prejudices are majorly negative and help reinforce the view that women are inherently incapable of dealing with high profile tasks. 

They are viewed as lacking in aptitude, personality and determination. Other obstacles created by male managers are ‘difficulties in communicating with women’ and ‘men’s relentless desire to hold power’. 

Unfortunately, we have seen women leaders or managers do not view that women face any obstacles in their way up in the corporate ladder because of their belief that if could rise up and why could not other women couldn't.

I believe which is in itself an obstacle.  They do not believe any kind of support or preferential treatment should be met to the women employees because of “Queen Bee Syndrome” where women in power are more critical to female employees than the male counterparts. 

Women have to take charge of their own success and understand what they really want, discover their definition of success, identify their strengths and weaknesses, and set goals to overcome the glass ceiling barriers.

The truth is structured diversity and inclusion processes often are not translated into reality.

I have always been a promoter of value and contribution – and whoever brings that into a business or organization should be given the authority.

Women should also break the glass ceilings in their minds, maintain self-confidence, and talk openly about their accomplishments to get noticed and go after what they want fearlessly.

Apart from breaking workplace gender barriers, women also have to fight their way through social and cultural barriers.

Glass ceiling barriers remain the same for all women. 

Society can't be changed overnight.

but if women identify what is really important to them, they can work with others at home and at the office to create strategies to overcome the glass ceiling.