Page 56 [56]
IZOLDA TAKÁCS: THROUGH A GLASS DARKLY
Furthermore, the same phenomenon can be experienced even in the Fac¬
ulty of Humanities, which is considered a feminine field. Nöra Sellei’s research
based on deep interviews with students of liberal arts found that respondents
say this is still a “chivalric” field. Interviewees felt they needed a separate
communication strategy to fit in that world.’
BEYOND THE GLASS CEILING...
Above I have listed the obstacles present before acquiring a leadership position.
But the difficulties are not even close to an end. Women who have been able
to get out of the labyrinth or break through the glass ceiling are faced with
additional difficulties. Such an obstacle is the so-called glass cliff.
Bruckmiiller, Ryan, Rink and Haslam studied this relatively new form of
gender discrimination in Beyond the Glass Ceiling: The Glass Cliff and Its
Lessons for organisational Policy.” According to this, the glass cliff metaphor
refers to the difficulty that women have to face when they acquire leadership
positions. Such leadership positions are often much riskier and uncertain for
them than for men. Moreover, according to the phenomenon of the glass cliff,
the nomination of women is often only made possible because of a risk or
uncertainty of the organisation’s position. That is, the nomination of women
is often a response to a perceived future failure or crisis. Thus, as I wrote in
the introduction, the existence of women leaders suggests that the system and
the hierarchy is permeable. The fact that it is not permeable can only be visible
from behind.
To summarise, the majority of current society recognizes women as good
professionals, they are considered to be just as suitable for many positions as
men. Not for leading roles in most cases however, so important positions with
more responsibilities are still assigned to men.
This resonates with the bureaucratic relationship of expertise and discipline,
which considers individual attributes as the ideal type of a good leader (which
are men of course). It is true that, on the basis of Weber’s interpretation, the
rule of expertise and bureaucracy mean the same, but according to Parsons
— who describes that Weber confuses the dominance based on professional
competence with a moral responsibility based on a legitimate office -, in the
management of organisations, administrative and official positions are not
necessarily filled by people with the strongest professional competence. For
48 Séllei: Professzornék, 275.
149 Bruckmüller, S. - Ryan, M. K. — Rink, F. - Haslam, S. A. (2014): Beyond the Glass Ceiling:
The Glass Cliff and Its Lessons for Organizational Policy, https://doi.org/10.1111/sipr.12006
« 54 e