by Magda D. Healey

Created on: March 06, 2011   Last Updated: December 09, 2011

In most developed countries women have now achieved legal equality, and many legal systems forbid any type of sex discrimination. There is, technically, full equality between men and women in the workplace. The glass ceiling has shattered into pieces and is long gone and yet, women are few and far between among the highest level managers and politicians. Only 15 of the Fortune 500 companies have female CEOs, only 17 of the 100 US Senators are women. The United States has never had a female president or vice-president. Although other countries present a slightly more balanced picture, and although things are changing (the 17 current female Senators represent 43% of female Senators ever), women are still under-represented at the highest levels of power.

It is not due to the lack of skill or qualifications. More women than men apply to college, and of those, proportionally more make it to the graduation. The imbalance starts later, and grows progressively as one moves up the greasy pole of corporate or political hierarchy. 35% of MBA holders are female, but only 3% of the Fortune 500 CEOs.

What is happening? Conscious sexism is illegal and socially unacceptable. However, there is plenty of evidence (including several experimental studies) that shows existence of covert, often probably unconscious sexism. Sexual stereo-typing runs very deep and even women themselves tend to rate performance of other women lower than men. It has been shown that from business to academia, women have to work harder then men to achieve similar recognition.

The influence of such sexism is more complex than just being passed over for a promotion or selection to a higher level. Expectations create results: when teachers believe a child is highly intelligent, even if they are not, the child performs better at school. Stereotypes often work as self-fulfilling prophecies because they shape perception of others as well as behavior of the person themselves. Ambition is fuelled by external praise and recognition and although women are considered less ambitious and less likely to take risks, it's impossible to assess how much of it is due to the innate differences between men and women and how much to learned belief in one's lower competence.

In the light of this argument, the glass ceiling is somewhat self-erected, and not entirely impermeable, but still there. The steps to the top are steeper and narrower for women.

There is however another view of this subject which proposes that although

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