Shattering the Glass Ceiling To Success

It is the year 2014 and women are still collectively banging our heads against the glass ceiling of financial and professional success. First coined in the 1980’s, the phrase “glass ceiling’ is used to describe the limitations women face in the workplace.

These limitations stop women from taking risks, exploring opportunities, asking for raises, and demanding equal and fair treatment in the workplace. The external barriers can include racism, sexism, prejudice and penalties for the caretaking of our children and aging loved ones.

So how do we start to break through the glass ceilings and rise above the plateau? First, we distinguish between the challenges that exist outside of ourselves and those that are - perhaps more importantly - within.

The External Ceiling

According to a Harvard Business Review blog called “Six Paradoxes Women Leaders Face in 2013”, there is still a significant gender gap in the workplace in terms of pay equality and leadership roles. On average, the article reports, women earn 23% less than men; only four percent of the CEOs in Fortune’s top 1,000 companies are female and less than 20% of Congress is female.  

Despite these disheartening findings, there are women out there who are raising the ceiling: Hilary Clinton; Sheryl Sandberg; the 113th congress, which touted a record high number of female members. Women are better educated than ever, earning almost 60% of all college degrees.

Still, we are thwarted in our progress by forces perhaps even more powerful than prejudice, because they can only change when we change. 

The Ceiling Within

How much the external world is changing their attitudes about women will not matter, if we do not examine our own internalized, limiting belief systems: our thinking; habits of thought; unconscious belief systems of our childhood - our moods and internal limits that, if left unexamined, inhibit  career growth and success and can last a lifetime. Try answering these questions:

If you were not a woman, what work would you choose? 

If you were not a woman, how much money would you make?

If you were not a woman, how would your life be different?

The answers to these questions begin to expose the limitations that we carry within our own mindset. The good news is, these internal set-points or mental limitations can be shifted and changed when you become awake and aware. 

If you are ready to shatter your ceilings then it will help to have a support network in place. Pick strong professional allies or successful female mentors that can inspire and advise you.  If you’re unemployed, join professional associations, attend lectures, read about women who have shattered their own ceilings to success. Work with professional thought shifters - therapists, businesses coaches and the Career Wisdom Institute to help you become aware of limiting beliefs that are holding you under.

If you believe your work environment is not providing you with the opportunities you are seeking, then find another employer.  There are many mom- and women-friendly companies.  Explore your options and read articles from FastCompany and Working Mother.  Both magazines introduce women-friendly companies, every year.  A great source of employment are women-owned businesses. You can visit the U.S. Women’s Chamber of Commerce for certified women-owned businesses in your community, or read the local San Francisco Business Times’  “Book of Lists”, which focuses on women-owned businesses.

Ultimately, it is this fear of being truly who we are that directly effects income, job opportunities and overall satisfaction with our work. To break through the glass ceiling within, which will deeply influence the limitations outside, start by challenging your thinking.