soc

Joy Marie Prior
12 February 2010
Sociology 112
Section 4
Homework #6
Question #3
I really did not understand the second shift section, and I would apreciate going over that in class.
The glass ceiling described on page 155 as being, “Women have been moving into managerial positions in increasing numbers for several decades no, but they are still scarce in top executive positions… as though they have run into an invisible ceiling that blocks their advancement.” Was what was really intriguing to me, because I connected it to the musical How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying. My senior year of High School I was cast as one of the countless secretaries in this production. While reading the section on glass ceilings I was reminded of the play, because although there are male and female employees in the company, but all of the female employees were caste as secretaries, and all of the males were castled as executives. This depicted the ideal form of how the Victorian women has helped to create the glass ceiling in businesses today. The women were willing to “act like men” to marry a husband that they thought would bring them the most prestige.
The play is based on a book published in the 50’s and it was performed on Broadway in the 60s. Consequently the characters uphold the ideal “Victorian womanhood”. Every single female character (including all of the extras) were unmarried secretaries. There was only one older secretary, and the rest were young, beautiful, and lively. The basic stereo typical 1950’s pink-color job position with the ideal Victorian women who after she got married planed to end her career. On the other hand all the male characters varied greatly in age, and prestige. Finch’s character was exactly what Worlds Apart described in the differential socialization passage. The men in the musical had, “developed career plans early on, were willing and even eager to take on risks, liked to work in groups where they were noticed, were sensitive to company politics, and knew how to cultivate relationships that would work help them get ahead.” I thought about how the ideal Victorian woman adds to the development of the glass ceiling that keeps many women from holding high executive positions.
While thinking about the musical How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying I was struck with how women really are willing to “act like men,” by developing a plan early on, take risks, work in groups were they can be noticed, are sensitive to social politics, and know how to cultivate relationships not to rise in the economic world, but get a husband. Throughout the musical the secretaries worked the system so that they married who they thought would bring them the most money, and happiness. The song that comes to mind is Cinderella, Darling were all of the girls sing about marrying their bosses. In this particular musical the secretaries believe they were moving up in the world when they married higher up in the company. The men felt like they were moving up in the world as their positions in the company got higher up. In both cases they “acted like men” to get what they wanted, but it was to obtain entirely different things.
I think that what men and women consider successful is one of the determining factors to the glass ceiling idea. If a women thinks that marrying high up in the company is successful then she will spend most of her time reaching for that, but if her goal is to make money than she will being willing to take the time to do that. On that note, it is important to consider the social structure of the work place. Just as the book mentions there are socially restrictions. It leads back to that idea was there the chicken before the egg, or did women feel like they were successful if they married high in the company before they society pressure to marry high up in the company was expected. I still do not know which I ‘side’ with, but I think that it would have to be some sort of combination of both. I am interested to see how this discussion goes in class.