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Title II of the Civil Rights Act of 1991 creat-ed the 21-member, bipartisan
Federal Glass Ceiling Commission. The Commission's man-date is to study the
barriers to the advancement of minorities and women within corporate
hierar-chies (the problem known as the glass ceiling), to issue a report on its
findings and conclusions, and to make recommendations on ways to dis- mantle the
glass ceiling.
The Commission undertook an extensive research and information gathering
effort, including public hearings, surveys of chief exec-utive officers, and
interviews with focus groups. This work culminated with the spring 1995 release
of the Commission's report, Good For Business: Making
Full Use of the Nation's Human Capital. The Commission now com-pletes
its work, with the release of its recommen-dations in A Solid Investment:
Making Full Use of the Nation's Human Capital.
The glass ceiling is a reality in corporate America. Glass ceiling barriers
continue to deny untold numbers of qualified people the opportu-nity to compete
for and hold executive level posi-tions in the private sector. The relationship
between glass ceilings, equal opportunity and affirmative action is complex, as
the findings contained in Good for Business demonstrate.
Minorities and women are still consistently underrepresented and under utilized
at the high-est levels of corporate America. For example, 97 percent of the
senior managers of Fortune 1000 Industrial and Fortune 500 companies are white,
and 95 to 97 percent are male; in the Fortune 2000 industrial and service
companies, only 5 percent of senior managers are women, and almost all of them
are white; African American men with professional degrees earn 21 percent less
than their white counterparts holding the same degrees in the same job
categories. But women and African Americans are not the only ones kept down by
the glass ceiling. Only 0.4 percent of managers are Hispanic, although Hispanics
make up eight percent of America's workforce. Asian and Pacific Islander
Americans earn less than whites in comparable positions and receive fewer
promotions, despite more for-mal education than other groups. Generally, the
lack of educational opportunity drastically reduces the available pool of
Amercian Indian candidates and CEOs rarely consider them for management jobs.
These numbers are put in context by the fact that in our society, two-thirds of
the population — and 57 percent of workers — are women, minorities or
both.
Corporate leaders increasingly are cognizant of both the existence of the
glass ceiling and the value of workforce diversity at the management and
decisionmaking levels. What motivates companies that have begun to take steps to
break glass ceiling barriers? The bottom line. Business leaders see the changes
taking place in the demographics of national consumer markets and the labor
force, and the rapid globalization of the marketplace. They know that these
condi- tions affect the ability of their companies to sur-vive and prosper —
and that the existence of the glass ceiling keeps them from adapting to these
conditions efficiently and effectively.
The glass ceiling can affect the bottom line in other ways, too. Companies
that make full use of diverse human resources at home will be bet-ter prepared
for the challenges involved in man- aging even more diverse workforces in the
emerging global economy. Companies with strong records for developing and
advancing minorities and women will find it easier to recruit members of those
groups. Companies whose cultures are hospitable to minorities and women will
find it easier to retain those employ-ees, or incur additional recruitment and
training costs due to turnover. Increasing the number of minorities and women in
areas such as product development, marketing and advertising allows companies
to maximize their ability to tap into many segments of the consumer market.
Overall, a poor diversity track record can make companies vulnerable to activist
consumer groups.
To compete successfully at home and abroad, businesses must make full use of
the resources embodied in our people — all of our people. Individuals of
all races and both genders are entering our workforce in increasing numbers. By
the year 2000, two-thirds of new labor force entrants will be minorities and
women, yet the glass ceiling prevents qualified people of diverse backgrounds
from achieving top management positions. Over the past 30 years government and
business have taken steps to provide access for minorities and women to all
levels of employment. These efforts must continue, but business must take the
initiative to go beyond what it has achieved to date. Successful compa-nies will
be those that seize the opportunity pre- sented by increased diversity, to
create a world in which inclusion is elicited and not coerced, and work to
increase both the diversity of their work-forces and the opportunities available
to all members of their workforce.
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