Sex-based discrimination in the workplace is generally illegal. Federal and state statutes prohibit employers from considering a worker’s sex when making key employment decisions. Sex is a protected characteristic, much like race and religion. It generally should not influence a professional’s career options.
Female applicants for jobs should receive the same consideration as male applicants. That is as true for entry-level positions as it is for C-suite vacancies. Ambitious female professionals hoping to secure an executive position within a company should have the same chances as male professionals with similar experience and credentials.
Unfortunately, many women seeking advancement opportunities encounter a glass ceiling. The glass ceiling is one of the most common modern manifestations of sexual discrimination in the workplace.
What is the glass ceiling?
The glass ceiling is a metaphor for the challenges women face when they seek to advance their careers. Specifically, the glass ceiling refers to how women may successfully pursue multiple promotions before experiencing protracted professional stagnation. They can see the opportunities above them, but they cannot break through to actually acquire one of those opportunities. Others refer to this as a broken rung, meaning that it is impossible to climb above one’s current position.
At too many companies, the executive level of the organization is a boys’ club. Women may notice that less qualified or experienced candidates move into positions that they cannot obtain. Most of the time, employers obfuscate the truth in such circumstances. They do not readily admit to denying female professionals opportunities, but that is effectively what happens.
How can women fight back?
Women who have experienced sex-based discrimination in the workplace have protection under the law. They may be able to take legal action against their employers.
Documenting lost opportunities, including details about the vetting process and the pattern of behavior that constitutes promotion discrimination, could help them establish that there is an inappropriate pattern of decisions occurring within the company. A woman’s sex does not determine her ability to perform an executive role within a company, and her employer should not consider her sex when evaluating her suitability for a vacant position.
Ambitious female professionals denied career opportunities may need to consider pursuing discrimination lawsuits against their employers. Filing a discrimination lawsuit can lead to financial compensation and possibly a change of company policy that benefits everyone working at a company.