Glass Ceiling for Women and Its Antecedents

Authors

  • Ifra Zaroo
  • Abdul Gani

Keywords:

Career advancement, Glass ceiling, Leadership, Systematic literature review, Women career

Abstract

Purpose: Despite incremental strides across diverse sectors in recent decades, attainment of gender parity in leadership remains an enduring challenge, especially in view of the creation of a specific Sustainable Development Goal aimed at promoting gender parity. Therefore, this analysis systematically examines current literature on the phenomena of "glass ceiling". It primarily clarifies causes of glass ceiling that’s majorly responsible for organizations lack of women workforce at the top levels despite of required experience and education. The paper also highlights the consequences of the glass ceiling that hinders women's career advancement. Additionally, the paper offers potential directions for further study in this field.

Design/Methodology/Approach: Systematic Literature Reviews (SLRs) offers a methodical way to evaluate the body of academic literature already in existence, allowing for a thorough comprehension of a certain subject of research and suggesting potential lines of research. The literature on the glass ceiling phenomena was thoroughly reviewed in the current study.

Findings: The study divided glass ceiling effects into two categories: those that affect people directly and those that manifest at the organizational level. It was also found that fields of business and management, as well as the social sciences, accounted for the majority of studies on the issue of interest. As a developed country with a large number of publications, the United States was the top contributor in this subject. The study discovered three distinct antecedent groups: social and cultural factors (influenced by community norms or conventions), organizational factors (occurring in work contexts), and individual factors (connected to women's personal lives).

Originality/Value: Conspicuous underrepresentation of women in roles of leadership underscores a notable deficiency in fully harnessing available managerial potential. Despite the inception of the term "glass ceiling" over three decades ago, the literature was found below par related to the dimensions of glass ceiling. The study makes a contribution to the field by highlighting a comprehensive exploration of multifaceted dimensions.

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Published

2026-03-09

How to Cite

Ifra Zaroo, & Abdul Gani. (2026). Glass Ceiling for Women and Its Antecedents. Journal of Women Entrepreneurship & Business Management (e-ISSN: 2583-8210), 7(1), 15–29. Retrieved from https://matjournals.net/engineering/index.php/JWEBM/article/view/3199