By Heather Chapman (New York City)

Living in New York, it’s easy to forget—especially in this economy—that women everywhere are struggling to break through the glass ceiling. As hard as it may be for women here in the United States, it turns out that it is even harder for women in Australia. A recent study, supported by the Australian government, has recently found that Australia is trailing the United States, Great Britain, South Africa and New Zealand in regards to women breaking into the ranks of senior management.

This survey had a number of interesting comparisons, highlighting that while 54.5 percent of Australian ASX (Australian Stock Exchange) 200 companies have at least one woman in an executive position, this compares poorly to the United States, where 85.2 percent of companies have at least one woman in an executive position. In Canada, that figure is 65.6 percent; in Great Britain, it is 60 percent; and in South Africa, 59.3 percent.

Read more

by Liz O’Donnell (Boston)

The World Economic Forum 2008 Global Gender Gap Report released last month may show that women are making progress worldwide, but a report closer to home tells a bleaker story, even in one of the most progressive states in the Union. The University of California Davis just released its fourth annual study on women in the 400 largest publicly held companies headquartered in California and it reveals there is only one woman for every nine men at the executive levels of these companies.

Read more

The Glass Hammer is delighted to partner with Lily Benavides, a 4th-year Doctoral candidate at the University of San Francisco on her research about the executive development of women. Lily is investigating the efficacy of executive coaching on the organizational performance of female executives to determine if this leads to their further promotion.

So please take a moment and reflect on your experience with executive coaching: how has it impacted your organizational performance? What business areas were specifically impacted? What new knowledge was gained? What do you do differently as a result of your experience with executive coaching?

More women are needed in the executive suite. Click on the link now and join in the quest. This is your opportunity to tell your story, a valuable one it is.
Survey closes Saturday, October 4. We will report back to you with the findings!

By Erin Abrams (New York City)

New research out this week indicates that the glass ceiling for women’s upward mobility in the corporate world may be thickening, at least for women in the U.K. According to a survey released by the Equality and Human Rights Commission, progress for women is “moving at a snail’s pace,” due in part to inflexible working arrangement and a culture of working long hours.

This study concluded with a bit of depressing news on the women’s equality front. According to this research, at current rates of promotion, it will take women approximately 73 years to reach parity with men in terms of representation on the board of directors of FTSE 100 companies. Even more surprisingly, the comments attached to the blog were mostly hostile towards women seeking promotion in the corporate world, and many suggested that women stick to child rearing instead of pursuing professional advancement. While these attitudes may seem archaic to some, they clearly represent a segment of the population that is dealing with a significant level of backlash against private sector women doing the work/life balance.

Read more

by Jessica Titlebaum (Chicago)

With most Americans away from their desks for Labor Day, celebrating the waning days of summer with barbeques, burgers, and beach outings, we at The Glass Hammer felt the need for a brief respite of our own. It’s in this vein that we veer slightly from our usual realm of coverage to examine how the glass ceiling (or the breaking of it) is faring around the world.

We begin in the States, where there’s been lots of talk of late about the glass ceiling in politics and government. Both Hillary Clinton and John McCain’s VP pick Sarah Palin claim to exemplify the disappearance of the glass ceiling in US politics. That said, America still lags far behind other countries when it comes to women in at the top of government. In the country’s 238 year history, we can now name only two women named as vice presidential candidates; Ms. Clinton’s missed chance at the top of the ticket keeps the number of women nominated for President at an easy to manage, if embarrassing, zero.

Read more