Editing Glass ceiling (section)

== Definition ==
The United States Federal Glass Ceiling Commission (1991–1996)<ref name="20230819CUL">{{cite web |title=Glass Ceiling Commission (1991–1996) |url=https://ecommons.cornell.edu/handle/1813/72763 |website=[[Cornell University Library]] |access-date=19 August 2023}}</ref> defined the glass ceiling as "the unseen, yet unbreachable barrier that keeps minorities and women from rising to the upper rungs of the corporate ladder, regardless of their qualifications or achievements."<ref name="DOL2" />

David Cotter et al. (2001) defined four distinctive characteristics that must be met to conclude that a ''glass ceiling'' exists. A glass ceiling inequality represents:
# "A gender or racial difference that is not explained by other job-relevant characteristics of the employee."
# "A gender or racial difference that is greater at higher levels of an outcome than at lower levels of an outcome."
# "A gender or racial inequality in the chances of advancement into higher levels, not merely the proportions of each gender or race currently at those higher levels."
# "A gender or racial inequality that increases over the course of a career."
Cotter and colleagues found that glass ceilings are correlated strongly with gender, with both white and minority women facing a glass ceiling in the course of their careers. In contrast, the researchers did not find evidence of a glass ceiling for African-American men.<ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Cotter | first1 = David A. | last2 = Hermsen | first2 = Joan M. | last3 = Ovadia | first3 = Seth | last4 = Vanneman | first4 = Reece | year = 2001 | title = The glass ceiling effect | url = http://www.bsos.umd.edu/socy/vanneman/papers/CotterHOV01.pdf | journal = Social Forces | volume = 80 | issue = 2| pages = 655–81 | doi=10.1353/sof.2001.0091| s2cid = 145245044 }}</ref>

The glass ceiling metaphor has often been used to describe invisible barriers ("glass") through which women can see elite positions but cannot reach them ("ceiling").<ref>*{{cite journal | last1 = Davies-Netzley | first1 = Sally A | year = 1998 | title = Women above the Glass Ceiling: Perceptions on Corporate Mobility and Strategies for Success | jstor = 190289 | journal = Gender and Society | volume = 12 | issue = 3| page = 340 | doi = 10.1177/0891243298012003006 | s2cid = 146681214 }}</ref> These barriers prevent large numbers of women and ethnic minorities from obtaining and securing the most powerful, prestigious and highest-grossing jobs in the workforce.<ref>Hesse-Biber and Carter 2005, p. 77.</ref> Moreover, this effect prevents women from filling high-ranking positions and puts them at a disadvantage as potential candidates for advancement.<ref>Nevill, Ginny, Alice Pennicott, Joanna Williams, and Ann Worrall. ''Women in the Workforce: The Effect of Demographic Changes in the 1990s''. London: The Industrial Society, 1990, p. 39, {{ISBN|978-0-85290-655-2}}.</ref><ref>{{cite web|last=US Department of Labor|title=Good for Business: Making Full Use of the Nation's Human Capital|url=http://www.dol.gov/oasam/programs/history/reich/reports/ceiling.htm|publisher=Office of the Secretary|access-date=9 April 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111028205421/http://www.dol.gov/oasam/programs/history/reich/reports/ceiling.htm|archive-date=28 October 2011|url-status=dead}}</ref>