YOU may have heard of the glass ceiling where due to race, sex, age, religion, education, mental abilities, physical attributes or other affiliation limits the extent of how high one can rise in an organization or how successful one can be in a chosen field. However, there are two types of glass ceilings, one that is really fixed and the other one that is artificial that can be adjusted to the point that there is practically no glass ceiling.
Typically, physical limitations impose a real glass ceiling. Such as being short or tall, where sports such as basketball puts short people at a handicap due to the nature of the game. On the other hand, there are also sports that favor small people, such as in horse racing where most jockeys are small and light to lessen the load on the race horse. Many Olympic sports favor a particular body type and mental ability that puts limits on how successful one can be in highly competitive physical sports.
There are also glass ceilings that are imposed by virtue of qualifications such as education and certification. For example, being a doctor requires a medical degree and passing the board exams, likewise, to become a pilot you would need to go to flying school and go through a series of certification licensing. As a medical professional without a degree, to become a doctor or a nurse you would be limited in how high you could go up depending on your qualifications. This is of course done to protect all of us from incompetence and unqualified people from doing us harm.
While the above situations may be considered fair and acceptable, there are a number of situations where the glass ceiling is not based on merit or capability. This invisible barrier can be quietly or even subconsciously imposed at an organizational lever or sometimes at an individual level. Organizations such as the armed forces may have restrictions and limitations imposed on women. One can argue that this is because women are weaker and have certain requirements that complicate the logistical requirements of the organization. Over time, this is changing and having women in the armed forces is slowly gaining acceptance.
Many glass-ceiling barriers based on race, sex, age and religion have also been eliminated or have become less obvious. However, the glass-ceiling barrier has held up pretty well when imposed upon by individuals in key positions who have their own bias, sometimes against people who are better qualified. I have seen this in many larger organizations where key positions are filled by professionals. I have come across many companies who have a human resources (HR) head that puts a barrier on hiring competent and qualified personnel. They end up choosing people that are their friends, people with lower qualifications to highlight the credentials of the HR head and people that are willing to play ball and butter up to the HR head.
There are also many executives within the organization who impose the same glass ceiling that they face due to their own limitations on other people within the organization. This is the dreaded “crab mentality” that has sometimes been attributed as a negative Filipino trait. If you do not want to be limited by someone else’s glass ceiling, the only solution is to rally up to get rid of that executive or move on elsewhere where there is no glass ceiling. Believe me, you will be much happier in another place.
(Comments may be sent to georgechuaph@yahoo.com)