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You probably still need a magnifying glass to see those cracks in the glass ceiling from afar, but they are growing. According to a November 2001 Harvard Business Review article, women are most likely to be making progress in earnings, access to leadership roles and expectations of succeeding if they work for companies that are doing well financially. Unfortunately, women are still not moving much in those fields and organizations where business is bad. There appears to be a correlation between Neanderthal attitudes about gender and difficulty seeing and seizing opportunities.
The place where the cracks are widest, of course, is in women-owned businesses. In cowboy country (Idaho, Nevada and New Mexico, for example), women-owned businesses are leading all others in growth and helping the guys in their state to stay out of negative numbers. Between 1997 and 2001 in Idaho, the number of women-owned firms grew 72 percent -- more than three times the growth for companies in general. And in Nevada, nearly one-third of all businesses are now owned by women.
The way for women in all kinds of organizations, fields and locations to continue turning these cracks into real openings is through three simple strategies:
- Demanding mentoring, coaching, training and anything else relevant to increasing their skills and perceived effectiveness.
- Sticking together, offering strategic help and reaching down to help others below them get a firm footing on the ladder.
- If all else fails, creating their own game and making the rules themselves. If major companies with sluggish growth continue to ignore the talents of their women and lose them, they'll have only themselves to blame.