Glass ceiling: Break it or broad it the choice is yours

Pages: 36-44
Sandeep Kaur (Guru Nanak Institute of Management and Technology, Ludhiana, Punjab)

India is a growing economy with a perspective ownership of more banking assets. This banking sector foresees more women employees which is a positive sign of breaking the prevailing glass ceiling in banking sector. Glass ceiling can be regarded as an imperceptible fence that hamper the upward movement of women to the top management positions in the organization. In the present era, India has risen up as a growing economy having forthcoming ownership of more banking assets. This has resulted in creation of more job avenues in banking sector. . A persistent increase in percentage of women employees in the banks shows a positive sign of breaking of glass ceiling. The present study analyses how the glass ceiling affects in different public sector, private sector banks. For analyzing this primary data was used to judge the characteristics and attitude of women employees towards the glass ceiling. Asteady increase in women employment participation in the banks is analyzed from primary data. Attitude on glass ceiling beliefs provide a clear picture of women’s view on this. Exploratory research design has been used on a total sample size of 150, working women employees in banking sector located in Ludhiana. The data collected through questionnaire and analyzed using statistical tools. The averages and percentages were calculated for descriptive statistics and inferential statistics was used for testing of hypothesis. Major findings are that there is prevalence of Glass ceiling in banking sector, women employees in private banks are victimized than public sector banks. Attitudes and behaviors of married and aged women were disturbed due to glass ceiling. A huge number of women employees from the sample observed that the male members had pre dominated the top positions. Women get very less career advancement and training opportunities due to stereotype thinking. A set of women employees also felt that they were victim of psycho glass ceiling as they did nit free themselves from the clutches of family problems, balancing professional and private life, lack of confidence, foreign trips, jealous of peer groups, etc. Despite the increased numbers of women participation in the workforce and achieving management positions, the ‘glass ceiling’ still exists.