Barriers to women's advancement in the public sector continue to be very real. Debate has shifted from concern about equal employment opportunity and access to entry- and middle-level leadership positions to an examination of the glass ceiling phenomenon, which prevents many women from reaching upper level management positions. Using a conceptual and analytical framework developed for my doctoral dissertation and data generated from a survey of 253 upper level administrators in the Florida State government, this paper compares the experiences of women to those of men in elite public management positions. The paper underscores the barriers women encounter as they attempt to advance their careers and argues that it is not gender difference, but rather the difference that gender makes that explains why these barriers persist.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
Adler, N. J.
, & lzraeli, D. N. (Eds.). (1988). Women in management worldwide. Armonk, NY: M. E. Sharpe Inc.
2.
Adler, S. J.
(1991, October 9). Lawyers advise concerns to provide precise written policy to employees. Wall Street Journal, p. B1.
3.
American Society for Public Administration
. (1991) "Glass ceiling" prevails at mid-management level. PA Times, 14(10), 3.
4.
Baron, J. N.
, & Bielby, W. T. (1985). Organizational barriers to gender equality: Sex segregation of jobs and opportunities. In A. S. Rossi (Ed.), Gender and the life course (pp. 233-251). New York: Aldine Publishing Company.
5.
Bayes, J. H.
(Ed.). (1991). Women & public administration: International perspectives. Women and Politics, (Vol. 11, No. 4). New York: The Hawthorne Press, Inc.
6.
Bose, C.
, & Spitze, G. (Eds.). (1987). Ingredients for women's employment policyNew York: State University of New York Press.
7.
Bradsher, K.
(1988, March 17). Women gain numbers, respect in board rooms. The Los Angeles Times, pp. 1, 6.
8.
Canadian Government Publishing Centre. Task force on barriers to women in the public service
. (1990). Beneath the veneer: The report of the task force on barriers to women in the public service. Ottawa, Canada: Canadian Government Publishing Centre.
9.
Center for the American Women and Politics
. (1992, February). CAWP fact sheet. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University.
10.
Chafetz, J. S.
(1990). Gender equity An integrated theory of stability and change. Newbury Park, CA: Sage Publications.
11.
Crompton, R.
, & Jones, G. (1984). White-collar proletariat. Deskilling and gender in clerical work. PA: Temple University Press.
12.
Epstein, C. F.
(1988). Deceptive distinctions. Sex, gender, and the social order. Binghamton, NY: Vail-Ballou Press.
13.
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission
. (1989). Job patterns for minorities and women in state and local government. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office.
14.
Florida State Government
. (1991). Civil service reform. Recommendations for reforming Florida's civil service system. Tallahassee, FL.
15.
Guy, M. E.
(1990). Women in management. In S. W. Hayes & R. C. Kearney (Eds.), Public personnel administration. Problems and prospects (2nd ed., pp. 215-227). Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.
16.
Guy, M. E.
(1991). Women and men of the states: Public administrators at the state level. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the Southern Political Science Association, Tampa, FL.
17.
Hale, M. M.
, & Kelly, R. M. (Eds.). (1989). Gender, bureaucracy, and democracy Careers and equal opportunity in the public sector. Connecticut: Greenwood Press.
18.
Hearn, J.
, & Parkin, P. W. (1988). Women, men and leadership: A critical review of assumptions, practices, and change in the industrialized nations. In N. J. Adler & D. N. lzraeli (Eds.), Women in management worldwide (pp. 17-35). Armonk, NY: M. E. Sharpe Inc.
19.
Kanter, R. M.
(1977). Men and women of the corporation. New York: Basic Books.
20.
Kelly, R. M.
(1991). The gendered economy: Work, careers, and success. Newbury Park, CA: Sage Publishers.
21.
Kelly, R. M.
, Guy, M. E., Bayes, J., Duerst-Lahti, G., Duke, L. L., Hale, M. M., Johnson, C., Kawar, A., & Stanley, J. R. (1991). Public managers in the states: A comparison of career advancement by sex. Public Administration Review, 51(5), 402-412.
22.
Kelly, R. M.
, & Stambaugh, P. (1992). Sexual harassment in state government. In M. E. Guy (Ed.), Men and women in the states. New York: Sharpe.
23.
Lewis, G. B.
(1990). Men and women toward the top: Backgrounds, careers, and potential of federal middle managers. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Society for Public Administration, Los Angeles, CA.
24.
Lublin, J.
(1991). Thomas battle spotlights harassment. Wall Street Journal, October, B1.
25.
Morrison, A. M.
, & Von Glinow, M. A. (1990). Women and minorities in management. American Psychologist, 45(2), 200-208.
26.
Rizzo, A.
, & Mendez, C. (1990). The integration of women in management. A guide for human resources and management development specialists. Westport, CT: Greenwood Publishing Group.
27.
Stewart, D. W.
(1990). Women in public administration. In N. B. Lynn & A. Wildavsky (Eds.), Public administration: The state of the discipline. Chatham, NJ: Chatham House Publishers.
28.
Stuhldreher, K.
(1992). Representations of sexual harassment: Implications in the wake of the Thomas hearings. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Political Science Association, Chicago, IL.
29.
U.S. Merit Systems Protection Board
. (1981). Sexual harassment in the federal workplace. Is it a problem?Washington, DC: Government Printing Office.
30.
U.S. Merit Systems Protection Board
. (1992). A question of equity. Women and the glass ceiling in the federal government. Washington, DC: Government Printing Office.
31.
Whicker, M. L.
, & Strickland, R. A. (1992). An analysis of EEOC sexual harassment filings by state. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Political Science Association, Chicago, IL.
32.
Wright, D. S.
, & Bullard, A. (1993). Circumventing the glass ceiling. Public Administration Review, 53(3), 189-202.
