The Future of Corporate Women

Abstract

The past two decades have given rise to considerable discussion and debate regarding the extent to which women have made progress in breaking the glass ceiling. This debate is especially salient when considering women’s ascension to the boardroom and executive suite. Some organizational observers suggest that considerable progress is evident, while others provide a more pessimistic view of progress. We develop this issue by providing an overview of the rationale offered on both ends of the continuum—that women have made progress in breaking the glass ceiling and that women have made little progress in breaking the glass ceiling. We also summarize two recent studies which examine the extent to which women are better represented among corporate directors and in the executive suite. We conclude with extensions to these studies which empirically examine changes in the profile of female directors, as compared to their male counterparts, over a ten year period.