In talking about the gender-wage gap, I wonder if there's empirical evidence to site the factors and causes of the gap and a percentage as to how much they each contribute to inequality. I guess the question is not, "Is there a glass cieling effect?" but "Where is the glass cieling?" and "What kinds of personalities, types of people, and workplace culture increase the 'height,' so to speak, of the glass cieling?" In the study of feminism and sociology there are a lot of theories, speculation, and ideas about why inequality exists, and it would be interesting to see how empirical data measures up to what sociologists have discovered.
There is no doubt that society has an image of what it means to be "powerful" in the corporate world, and inequality exists not only between men and women, but also between men and men. By evaluating what those qualities are that society deems to be important, we can have a better understanding about how to change public perspectives of inequality and a better understanding of why they exist. For example, in the book "Blink," (which I recommend to anyone, it's a really interesting read about psychology and it'll blow your mind) the author notes that most of the head honchos of the corporate world are over six feet tall and male. There are a few lone short CEO's out there, but the great majority of them are over six feet tall, even though the minority of males are that tall. This means that there is something about height that people attribute to being powerful and being a good leader. Obviously height is not something that most of us can change easily, but it lends itself to a discussion about what being a "powerful" individual means in our society. It would be interesting to compare that to how views about power are different in a matriarchal society, although I can't think of any societies that are matriarchal off the top of my head.
-B
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