Oldal 45 [45]
WOMEN IN TOP LEADERSHIP POSITIONS
1he concept itself was created by American sociologist Christine Williams
in 1992 in the article titled The Glass Escalator: Hidden Advantages for Men
in the “Female” Professions,” and was identified in her research of male nurses,
social workers and librarians. The metaphor was identified as evidence of
consistent male advantage in these workplaces. That is, even in jobs where men
have numerical minorities, they are likely to receive higher wages and move
faster up the ladder than female employees.** Williams has since built her own
concept further in The Glass Escalator, Revisited: Gender Inequality in Neo¬
liberal Times, SWS Feminist Lecturer® (2013), primarily referring to certain
insufficiencies the analogy was not fit to fully grasp. In the scientific discourse,
a number of studies dealt with the glass elevator phenomenon she used, and
The Glass Escalator: Hidden Advantages for Men in the “Female” Professions
has been mentioned in dozens of textbooks, quoted more than 500 times in
scientific articles and appeared in other places related to the subject.!°°
Williams mentioned two major limitations of the concept. First, it could
not handle intersectionality adequately, as it does not take the cross-section
of race, sexual orientation and class into consideration, and only addressed
experiences of white, middle class cis men. It is clear that black or gay men do
not necessarily enjoy the benefits of a glass elevator. Williams refines the
phenomenon further when mentioning that the term ‘white solipsism’ coined
by Adrienne Rich, which states that the “white” experience is the norm, mean
and model of any and all other demographics, means that anyone diverging
from the “white” norm can be considered an “exception”. The other issue with
the term glass elevator was that it is rooted in the structure of traditional work
organisations, which have changed significantly since then. The phenomenon
presumes stable employment conditions, a bureaucratic hierarchy which can
be observed by state-supported public institutions (educational institutions,
libraries, etc.). Although these strictly structured organisations are not char¬
acteristic to the labour market anymore, workplaces are more flexible, proj¬
ect-based and transitory currently.”
>” Williams, C. L.: The glass escalator: Hidden advantages for men in the “female” professions,
Social Problems, 39(3), 1992, 253-267, https://doi.org/10.1525/sp.1992.39.3.03x0034h
°8 Floge—Merrill, 1986; Heikes, 1991; Pierce, 1995; Williams, 1989, 1995 quoted by Wingfield.
White men in women’s professions are who mostly meet the glass escalator phenomenon,
which helps occupational mobility (for exception see Snyder and Green 2008), only a handful
of studies deal with it being not only a gender advantage, but also a racial privilege. (Wingfield:
Racializing the Glass Escalator, 6)
99 Cf. Williams, C. L.: The Glass Escalator, Revisited: Gender Inequality in Neoliberal Times,
SWS Feminist Lecturer, Gender & Society, 27(5), 2013, 609-629, https://www.jstor.org/
stable/43669820?seq=1#metadata_info_tab_contents
100 Tbidem.
101 Tbidem.
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